Awaiting Good Fortune
by Jemjols
Summary: Usagi and her friends' school is going bankrupt. After two schools merge, they find themselves in a boarding house with 5 boys...
1. New Faces

NB: Set in the SM world. Rei will probably come in later chapters if I continue this.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters; if I did I probably wouldn't be broke.

Also note: I'm not going to bother with honorifics. Use your imagination, people! Oh, and BTW, do you know how much the GW boys weigh?! I'll tell you:

Heero (**I know the correct spelling is HIIRO but I think it looks better this way**.): 45kg

Duo: 43kg

Trowa: 44kg 

Quatre: 41kg ß skinny bitch

Wufei: 46kg ßfat ass

These boys are **rakes**. Or **lollipops**, even. Heads on sticks, I swear…. Oh, well… they're still kawaii anyway.

Please Note: I constantly write "Makato" instead of "Makoto," you'll just have to excuse my idiocy.

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter One: New faces**

"This is so… so… **pathetic**! I **refuse** to go along with this! It's an insult!" Usagi screeched. She turned around and looked behind her. "Right then, I'll go live behind that **dumpster** over there because it will most **certainly** be better than living in the **hole** of a house!" She said indignantly while she picked up her bags and stalked towards the, --rather full and overflowing-- dumpster.

"Usagi! No!" Minako cried, grabbing hold of Usagi's arm in attempt to stop angry departure, "We're all going to take this with as much dignity as we can. It's not our fault… it's just… just… uh…" 

"…j-just that the school was to small and… well, it was the only way for them not to go bankrupt."  Ami finished Minako's sentence.

"Only way?! **Only** **way**?!! Ha!! This is just some cruel torture--!!"

"Torture?! How could you call going to an **elite** school with **boys** torture?" Makoto asked with dreamy eyes. "Ooooh… I hope they're all really cute… I'll bake the ones I like cakes everyday… we'll send loves notes to each other……"

Makato seemed to be in an unreachable world of her own now, so the other three girls continued their argument.

"But… why?!" Usagi screeched again. Sitting down on her suitcase in defeat, her old school uniform drooped over her, reflecting her emotions.

"Well Usagi, 50% of all the boys at our school began to leave, therefore diminishing the total number of students to a terribly low level, most of the girls then began to leave, thus, with most of it's students gone, the school wasn't getting enough income. This school here was having a similar problem, so… the two schools merged." Ami finished with a shrug, and, realizing that it put wrinkles in her uniform, she quickly straightened it out.

"C'mon, Usagi! It'll be fun. We get to stay in the boarding house!" Minako said excitedly, literally bursting with joy from the sheer joy of being around boys **all** the time.

"Oh, yes, what fabulous fun. I get to stay in a big old smelly house with a bunch of strange and most likely **perverted **boys. I just can't wait." Usagi said sullenly. She sighed and stared at her hands for a while whilst her three friends joined her by sitting on their suitcases. After she'd memorized every line on her hand –which she promptly forgot – she looked back up and the large boarding house in front of her and, as if on some cosmic cue, a young boy their age with white-blonde hair walked out and said;

"You must be the new boarders. Just a moment, I'll go get some help for your bags." He then turned and went back inside. A few moments later he reappeared but this time, with four other boys. One of them was slightly taller than the rest with a truly dreadful hairstyle that consisted of some furry hair monster falling over the left side of his face. He had dark, mysterious green eyes and an emotionless expression on his face. The boy walking beside was just as expressionless but just a little bit shorter. He had cold, icy, deep blue eyes and messy dark brown hair. He was very well built without being overly muscled or macho, and his cold face seemed to have a graceful look about it.

Then following the first three was a very odd sight. A boy with a long braid and cobalt eyes was dragging out a poor Chinese boy buy his small ponytail.

"C'mon Wu-man! Don't you want to meet the new girls?" The braided boy asked chirpily.

"Maxwell! Release me now! I do not care for these weak onnas! Maxwell!! If you don't let me go I will let my katana deal with you!" The dark-haired boy yelled. The bubbly one let go of his ponytail and bounced down the stairs before the four girls.

"Welcome, lovely ladies, to Graeham House. Home of myself and these four, and of course all of you. We used to have more people but everyone started to pack up and leave so now it's a little on the empty side. But don't worry, it doesn't get boring you see, these three are **really** easy to annoy so if you just—."

"Be Quiet," the messy haired boy said. The one with the braid stuck out his tongue. Then gave a big grin. He then proceeded to introduce them all. 

"Well I'm Duo," he said pointing to himself and grinning. He then put an arm around the shoulders of the blonde boy next to him. "Blondie here is Quatre Rabarbra Winner. He's really kind and will make your years here pleasant. The tall one is Trowa Barton, he doesn't speak much and saunters about a bit. The one exploding with rage at the back is Wufei Chang; he needs to take an anger management course but has too much pride to go to one. And this one—" he said, jerking a thumb at the still unnamed boy, "—Is Heero Yuy. He just grunts a lot. He probably used up his yearly stock of words buy just telling me to be quiet earlier."

The four young ladies were surprised at the assortment of boys, to say the least, and didn't speak for the next few seconds. Well, until Minako perked up and began to thoroughly introduce them all.

"Hi! I'm Minako Aino. I like sports and playing games. My birthday is October 22nd and my favourite food is curry!" Minako said, patting her stomach. She then poked Makoto. "This charming lady here is Makoto Kino. She loves to cook and she's really good at it. **This** wonderful girl over here," she said moving over next to Ami, "is Ami Mizuno. She likes swimming and playing chess. She's really smart and really nice too! She always helps me with my homework!" Ami blushed slightly over the comments. Then Minako yanked on one of Usagi's ponytails, making her yelp. "This is Usagi. She likes to sleep and eat. She'll probably eat us all out of house and home eventually, and all of the cake is going to go first. But despite her hunger she's real nice and a great friend. Oh! And her boyfriend and her just broke up, so now she's single!" She said winking. Usagi blushed furiously.

"AAH! MINAKO!" She screamed, covering her ears and shaking her head. "She didn't just say that. She didn't just say that…"

Two of the five boys smiled at their antics. One sneered and the other two remained emotionless. Duo eagerly stepped forward in front of Minako, beaming.

"May I take you bags, Miss?" He asked brightly.

"Oh, please do, kind Sir!" Minako chirped, playing along with his mock formality. They both headed into the house, chatting with each other as if they had been friends since birth. It was at this point that the Chinese boy, Wufei, stalked off, ranting something about 'onnas', 'weakness' and 'insults to his dignity.'

Quatre stepped forward gingerly and picked up Ami's two suitcases.

"I'll show you to your room… Ami, wasn't it?" He asked softly.

"Oh thank you…um… Quatre. Oh, yes, that's right."  Ami picked up her laptop and swung it over her shoulder and they both quietly walked into Boarding House, which left Makoto and Usagi with the two emotionless boys. 

They waited like that for quite a while. 

Makoto realized that nothing was going to happen soon so she bent down to pick up her duffel bag and suitcase, and at that moment the Trowa boy decided to be of some use and took the two bags out of her hands.

"Trowa, right?" She asked. His gaze flicked to her briefly, which she took for a yes. "Thanks." Then those two disappeared into their new home. Which left herself and Heero. They both stood there for a long time, just staring at each other. After a while --when the robot boy didn't do anything-- she decided that she would simply wait him out until he helped her with her luggage. She guessed that he had made a similar agreement with himself, because he made no move to leave or take her bags either. Hours seemed to pass, their intent gazes only faltering when either of them were in dire need of a blink.

"Hn," he grunted and stepped forward to take her four bags. 

"Thankyou Heero. I guess you are a gentleman instead of a robot after all," Usagi said with a smile.

"So what's it like here? Do you guys have fun or anything, or is it just study, study, study?" Minako asked inquisitively.

"Well it can get real boring… buts that's why it's so fun to play pranks on them," Duo said with a wicked grin. The two of them then began to climb the long flight of stairs. "Hey! You can go in the room next to me! Yeah! We could come up with all kinds of crazy stuff!" Duo exclaimed, as he bounced up the rest of the stairs.

"He he he…Sounds cool!" Minako said, rubbing her hands together in a devilish way. "…But, don't you have, like, girls quarters and boys quarters or anything?" Minako questioned.

"Nah… this used to be an all-boy school anyway so they didn't have to divide the boarding house or anything." He said as he stopped outside the first door on his left, it was marked with a large golden '1' centered on the pristine white door.  He put her two suitcase down. "I'll be next door, if you want anything just get me," He said with a large smile on his face. He turned and walked a few steps until he reached his own room, marked with the golden number '3' on it. He was about to enter until another idea popped in his head. "Or do you want someone to help you unpack?" He liked Minako already. She wasn't uptight like Heero and not insulting like Wufei and not quiet like Quatre. She liked to have fun, she liked to annoy people, and was very extroverted, like himself.

"Yeah OK. Here you take that one," she said indicating the large dark blue suitcase, and help up a slightly smaller crimson one, "I'll take this one, it's got underwear and stuff in it so I'll do this one."

"Oh, no it's not a problem. I can take that one for you," Duo said jokingly, but picked up the large blue case and followed Minako into her room. 

Ami meekly followed Quatre into the large brick house in front of them. It really truly was exquisite; it was two stories high, and had beautiful cream balconies for every room on the second floor. It was quite old, but you could still slightly see the beautiful scrollwork and tiny leaves and flowers and animals that had been delicately carved in various areas.

"Oh, please come inside. Your room will be on the top floor. The bottom floor has the kitchen, the ballroom, the dining room, and the lounge room. Here, follow me," he said as he walked over to the staircase and began to climb up. When they reached the top, he turned left, but stopped.

"This is where all our rooms are situated," he said, looking down the corridor. "Down that way," he said, tossing his head and indicating the other rooms behind them, "is almost out of bounds. The school wants those rooms to be kept in good condition so if more boarders arrive, they can take those rooms." He began to walk down the corridor. Sounds of chatter and laughter issued from room number one, and Ami immediately recognized it as Minako and her new friend Duo.

"Oh, I couldn't imagine leaving near these two," Ami laughed softly.

"I know how you feel," Quatre said smiling, "That's why I'm down the end, an even then I can still hear Duo's load voice echoing through the house at night." He walked right to the end of the corridor and stopped. "I live here, in number 11. Wufei lives in number 8, Trowa is in number 5 and Heero is in number 4. Room 1 has already been taken by your friend Minako, but feel free to choose any other room."

"Hmm…" Ami put her hand over her mouth, thinking. "Tell me Quatre, do you like to play chess?" She asked, a little embarrassed.

"Oh, I love chess." Quatre said, nodding.

"Terrific. I'll take this room, number twelve. So if we ever want to play, it will be convenient." Ami said with a smile. She opened her door and picked up her bags, but turned around just before she entered her room. "Excuse me, Quatre, what time is dinner?"

"It's at 7:30 sharp."

"Hmm… okay. It's 4:45 now, so let's meet at 6 o'clock in the lounge room for a game of chess." She said brightly.

"Sure. That would be wonderful." Quatre said eagerly, with a large smile on his face.

Makoto followed the taller boy inside. From the angle she was looking at, she could see his face clearly (not being blocked by his overly large fringe), and found that he actually was quite attractive, and he had stunning eyes… in fact, he almost looked liked one of her old boyfriends… 

Immediately, Makoto fell into her own dream world, not realizing that she'd stopped moving altogether. After a few minutes, however, Trowa got tired of waiting for her stop thinking, and cleared his throat loudly.

Makoto shook her head quickly, and then turned crimson. "S-sorry, I…uh…. I guess I kinda spaced out." She said, scratching the back of head and laughing softly in an attempt to turn her spacey-ness into a joke.

Trowa turned and made for the stairs. And unless her eyes were deceiving her, she would swear that she saw slight amusement in his emotionless orbs.

They both climbed the stairs in silence.

"So… how long have you been attending this school, Trowa?" She asked, eagerly trying to spark conversation.

"3 years," Was his blunt reply. They reached the top of the stairs and Makoto could see Ami waving to Quatre and entering the room at the far end on the right.

"Which rooms mine?" She asked, hoping to get more than two words out of him this time. She could also hear Minako's voice filtering out of room 1, as well as the voice of the braided boy… Duo, if she remembered correctly.

"Room number 1 seems to be taken by your long haired friend –"

"Minako," Makoto corrected him.

"—Room 2 is occupied by Duo Maxwell. Heero is in room 4, Wufei is in room 8, Quatre is in room 11, your short haired friend—"

"Ami."

"—is room 12, and I am in room 5."

Makoto thought about her options. She immediately decided that she wanted to be near this interesting new boy Trowa (even though he refused to acknowledge her friends names), but she didn't want to be close to Duo and Minako; Minako alone makes enough noise.

"I'll take room 7, it's my lucky number, after all." She fabricated quickly. Trowa immediately walked towards the fourth door on the left. Makoto took more time however, and quickly listened in on Minako's conversation.

"…. –nd so, that's when—HEY! DUO, YOU PERVERT! GIVE ME BACK MY UNDERWEAR!!"

"You'll have to get them off me!!" Duo laughed, followed by lots of clatter that Makoto assumed was Minako rampaging around the room trying to get her underwear back. Trowa clearing his throat again made Makoto jump away from the door and briskly walk to where he was standing, blushing all the way.

"S-sorry…" Makoto mumbled.

"Dinner's at 7:30 in the dining room downstairs." And with that, he went into his own room, leaving Makoto standing there.

Usagi walked quietly next to Heero as they both entered the boarding house.

"This place is huge!" Usagi exclaimed, looking up at the ceiling and spinning around once. "Hey, what's this room?" Usagi said, disappearing into the room on her right. She popped her head out after she got no reply. "It wouldn't kill you to answer, you know."

"Hn." When she continued to stare and wait for an answer, he decided to just tell what she wanted to know, and that way he would be able to be free of her and her stupidity much quicker. "Ballroom."

"Ooh! And this one?" She said, running into the Lounge Room and jumping onto one of the sofas.

"Lounge Room," was all he said. 

Usagi jumped off the sofa and bounced into the kitchen.

"Hey, let me guess… the Kitchen!" She said excitedly, then sat on the kitchen bench. "So do we cook our own meals or is there a chef? Is the food terrible here?" She asked, leaning forward intently. 

"Mr. Calt cooks on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Ms. Barbara cooks on Thurdays, on weekends, and makes lunch and dinner on Fridays. On Fridays, a person in the house in nominated to cook breakfast."

For some reason, the girl in front of him just grinned. She then swung off the bench, walked right up to him and poked him in the chest.

"I'd bet anyone that you just said more words then than collectively everything else you've said in your life," she had a knowing look in her eye. 

She was probably right, too.

He turned and exited the kitchen, Usagi excitedly at his heels. She sprinted into the Dining Room.

"And what would this room be, Mr. Monotone?" She asked, completely aware that it was the Dining Room, due to the fact that a long table ran across the floor, with plates, glasses, knives, forks and napkins adorning it.

He looked away from her and walked up the stairs.

"So when's dinner?"  She called out to him.

"7:30."

Realizing that dinner wasn't going to be served anytime soon, she followed him up the stairs. He turned left and stood there. She gathered that she had to choose a room.

"Okie-dokie…" Usagi said, surveying the rooms in front of her. She could hear Minako's voice on her left in room one, as well as Duo's. And she guessed that Minako would choose a room next to an extroverted person like Duo, so that meant rooms 1 and 3 were taken. Ami would move as far away from noisy areas so she could get the maximum output of her study time, and Quatre seemed to be a similar person, which meant that the last two rooms were taken. Trowa and Wufei seemed like the loner type, so they would probably go in the middle to avoid others, and Makoto seemed a bit taken by Trowa, which meant she chose a room near him. And she wanted to be as close to food as possible, so she turned and pointed to the golden '2' on the pearly white door next to her. "I choose this room!" she declared. "Is anyone in this one?" Usagi asked as she opened the door, and to her delight she found it empty. "Yes!" She ran in and jumped on the bed. "My new room…" 

She looked around and only saw the bare minimums; a bed, a cupboard, a chest of drawers, a desk, a mirror on the wall and sad looking light dangling from the roof.

Heero took two steps in, placed the four bags on the floor and made to leave.

"Hey Heero! Who's my next-door neighbor?" She inquired, swinging her legs over the end of the bed.

"Me," was all he said as he walked out. Usagi couldn't help but laugh, this boy was her pestering target she'd decided, and he was going to have to live with her being next door. Everyday.

She blew her fringe out of her eyes and rolled over to see what the time was. The glowing red numbers '6:01' stared at her. She still had an hour and a half before dinner.

What to do… what to do… 

The possibility of going over to Minako's room was ruled out. (Last time she did she had been greeted by Duo lying on the floor on his stomach, with Minako sitting on his back, twisting his arm behind him and yelling, "OK! I won! Now give me back my underwear bag!" And Duo laughing and yelling, "Never!")

Ami and Quatre had just started a game of chess, so there was no way of talking to either of them. Wufei had gone off to practice with his katana, Trowa had gone off somewhere to read a book, and Makoto was helping Ms. Barbara cook dinner.

Which only left one person…

Heero. 

She grinned an evil, childish grin as hopped of her bed, and walked outside to stand in front of Heero's door. She knocked three times. When there was no answer, she knocked again. When she got the same result she just continued to knock on the door until he opened it. Two –slightly angry— blue eyes met hers.

"**Finally**… geez, I thought you'd gone deaf or something." She invited herself in and had a look around. "Wow, your room's really boring." The only thing he looked like he'd added were his schoolbooks, a laptop and some clothes that were hung up in his cupboard. "So what're you doing on your laptop?" She asked as she plonked herself down on his chair and peered at the screen. "Quantum Physics?" She screwed up her nose. "Isn't that a little advanced? Oh I see, you're one of those smart loner kids. Ami's smart too, but she's not introverted. Not that you are or anything it just seems like you don't go out much… or at all for that matter… but anyway, you don't seem to get along with the other boys here. Is Trowa like that too? He doesn't seem like the social type either. Duo, on the other hand, seems like the really happy, social type which is kind of strange considering he lives with you guys… I don't mean that in an offensive way or anything, it's just odd that someone like him could stay that way when he lives with non-socialites like you and Trowa. Anyway…"

She just wouldn't shut up. She was almost like Duo, except he got bored eventually and went off to pester someone else. This… Usagi… seemed oblivious to the fact that he didn't care and just continued to talk and talk and talk…

"… and **that's** why we broke up. I mean I liked him and all but it just didn't have that 'meant to be' feeling, you know? Have you ever had a girlfriend? Ur… probably not. You really should get out more. You know, makes some friends, find a girl you like… that kind of thing. Personally, I'm in no rush but that's not the problem. You see…"

She seemed as though she hadn't talked for a year and was making up for lost time now. He hoped to the God he didn't believe in that that would never happen to him

"… And so now you know why I don't go to the Crown Arcade anymore. I mean, Rei still does but she has a reason… Oh my God! You could go out with Rei! I mean, she's in another city at the moment, but I'm sure you'll meet her one day! But…no, no! That wouldn't work! Rei's the commanding type, and you don't seem to like people trying to order you around. Oh! Oh! I know! You could put an ad in the personals! I'll just get a piece of paper…"

She began rummaging through his desk until she found a piece of paper and a pen.

"Okay… handsome boy, aged 15, looking for a girl similar age who doesn't mind an introverted boyfriend," she held up the piece of paper for him to look at it. "How does that sound?"

Okay, so even his icy heart was a little flattered at being called handsome. 

But she was still being annoying. He just stared at her in what he hoped was a very threatening way. She shrugged.

"Oh well, I'll just leave it here…" She put it on the left side of his desk, re-lidded the pen and put it on top. "…so if you have second thoughts to can add some more to it and send it off. Hey, let's just say you **did** send it in! What kind of girl would you be after? I think you'd go for a shorter woman, with blue or green eyes, light brown hair, nice figure, smart, probably athletic, definantly pretty, and **personality** wise…"  
  


She stopped for a second and seemed to study him.

"Hmm… I can usually tell a lot about people from just looking at them. But you… hmm. Um… maybe…" She tilted her head to the side and stared at him.

"Here, let's have a look-see at your eyes. You can tell at lot about a person from their eyes…" She got off the chair and walked up to him, standing about two feet away. He was about six centimeters taller than she was so she still had to look up a little bit. "Could you possibly move your hair out of your eyes?"

His cold glare wasn't having any effect on her, and clearly she wasn't getting the massage that plainly said, 'go away.'

She sighed angrily, and began mumbling something about 'people just tying to annoy you,' 'think they're too good fro everyone else' and 'just doing this so he won't find a girlfriend in the future.' She took a small step forward, closing most of the gap in between them. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and put her hands on either side of his face, pulling him down a bit so that they were eye-to-eye.

"Okay let's see… at first, you're angry –I can't understand why, but that's what I gather—but under that you seem… hmm… I would say slightly amused or maybe even flattered…………you…hmm… you seem to be hiding something.…oops. OK, seeing that anger again. Hey, hey! Don't get all defensive at me! I'm just saying what I think I'm seeing, sheesh! …There's something else though… underneath it all…" She seemed to lose focus on what she was seeing, but continued to look at his eyes, "… underneath the anger and the coldness, being kept locked away… I think I see…"

Someone began to ring the dinner bell downstairs, signifying that it was 7:30. Usagi shook her head as if just waking up, and then she smiled broadly. "Aha! Dinnertime! Race you!" She dashed out the door and he could hear her run down the stairs. 

He blinked a few times, then stared at the note she had left on his desk. He picked it up, folded it into four, then put in the bottom drawer in his desk. He looked at his laptop briefly, decided that he didn't have to shut it down, then went downstairs to have dinner.

*******End chapter 1

Okay… so what did we think? Please review and tell me if I should keep going or not. If I do, some relationships my form and Rei will eventually come into it but until then… yeah. Until then, this is it.

BTW, I'm sorry if it seemed like I was Trowa bashing, I'm not. In fact Trowa's by third fave GW chara, but you have to admit, his hair truly is dreadful.


	2. Milkshakes and New Developements

AAAH! Thankyou to all the wonderful beautiful people out there who gave me those uplifting, shiney reviews! I feel so inspired! Yay! I LOVE EVERYBODY!

Disclaimer: Don't own GW or SM. If I did, I would be making really cool anime and rolling in a pile of wealth. Obviously I'm not, and the best I can do is fanfiction.

**NB:** Official Heights: All the GW boys ('cept Trowa) are 156cm (Trowa is 160cm). Usagi is 150cm. After my brilliant mathematical skills (yeah, right) were put to use, it was found that all of the scouts (except for Usagi and Hotaru) are taller than the Gundam Boys. I'm a girl, so you can't accuse me of being sexist against women when I say this, but I would much rather the girls to be shorter than the boys.

So, here's my character heights for the story (In centimeters):

Usagi-150cm

Ami- 152cm

Minako- 152cm

Makoto- 157.5cm

Rei(when she makes her glorious appearance)-153cm

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

PS: **ON THE MATTER OF THE COUPLINGS…** If romance ensues (which it probably will because I have to admit, it's cute), the pairings are pretty obvious.  **Firstly**, USAGI AND HEERO FOREVER!!…….. **Secondly**, Ami and Quatre together is just too cute to resist. **Thirdly**, Minako and Duo. Probably no romance there (unless it's demanded), they'll just be the evil prankster pair who pester everything in sight. **Fourthly,** Makoto and Trowa. I think Makoto just had a knack for choosing men that will probably pay her no attention and break her heart. And Mr. Tall Icicle needs **somebody. Fifthly**(Now this is just getting ridiculous. 'Fifthly'?!) Wufei and Rei is as cute as Ami and Quatre, except being the opposite. Rei and Wufei: Both are stubborn, commanding, dominating, strong willed… hee hee hee (^_^) can't you just PICTURE it? 

And BTW on a different matter, the girls arrived at the boarding house on **Friday**, so it's now **Saturday**. Unless the order of days has been changed and I wasn't been informed.

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Two: Milkshakes and New Developments**

"Sooo…" Minako said, skipping along happily beside them and licking her ice cream, "Did any of you guys hit it off with the boys?"

Makato fell over. Usagi fell over. Ami blushed like there was no tomorrow.

"Mi- Minako!!" Usagi said furiously, picking herself of the ground.

"Oooh ho ho ho! I'm so sorry for **delving** into your little romantic interlude, Usagi!" She said gleefully.

"Aah! Don't be stupid! You made me drop my ice cream! You owe me one!" Usagi said, stamping her foot.

"Ok, Usa…" She said, grinning impishly. Her sentence seemed as though another 'I won't delve anymore' should have been glued to the end. Usagi picked it up, unfortunately for the ears of the innocent bystanders, and began to scream.

"NO! NO! **NO!** I **refuse** to be treated like this! All I did was pester him and look into his eyes!" She began to stamp her feet.

"Oooo… 'look into my eyes…' hey, Usa?" Makoto joined in, grinning.

"NO NO NO!" She said, shaking her head violently. "All I wanted to do was figure out his personality!!" Usagi threw her arms in the air in exasperation.

"So what was his personality like? Was he a good match for you??" Minako asked eagerly, thus triggering another round of foot stamping.

"Aah! You don't **understand**! I was doing an ad for the **personals** for him!" Usagi screeched, whilst crushing the pavement under her feet.

"Ah! So he's looking for a girlfriend, eh?" Makoto said, raising her eyebrows.

"**NO.** I simply suggested that he should get out more, make some friends find a girlfriend—"

"Were you **hinting** at something, Usa?" Usagi's stamping became more furious with the comment, she also began to gnash her teeth.

"—NEVER! I just wrote out an ad for him!" Makoto bounced in front of her and leaned in intently.

"And what did you write?" She asked curiously.

"I just wrote, 'handsome boy, aged fifte—"

"A**HA!!**" Minako roared with pure, insane glee. "So you think he's handsome, do you Usa? What he say after that? What did he **do**? Did he ask you on a date?! Did you say yes?! When is it?! **Where** is it?! Can I come? No, let's all go!!" Minako clapped her hands and began mentally choosing out what she was going to wear and whom she would invite, Makoto joined Minako in her planning, Usagi successfully cracked the pavement with her stamping, and Ami just sighed and shrugged.

Duo walked along happily next to Heero, slurping on the milkshake that Heero had just (grudgingly) shouted him to.

"So Heeee-ro…" Duo said, slowing his pace a bit. Unfortunately, Heero did not, so he had to catch up again. "I noticed you and Usagi spent a lot of time your **room**.** Alone.** Last night," he jabbed Heero in the ribs with his elbow. He was presented with a blank look. He sighed. "Usagi. You know, one of the four hot girls who are now **living** with us?"

"Hn."

"Honestly, man, you have to lighten up, you know, give it a shot. You might have a chance if you stopped being such a grumpy icicle whose vocabulary is limited to grunts." Heero blatantly ignored the statement. "C'mon… she's a **babe**, you have to admit it."

"…" Heero's silence, however, did not even register on Duo's mind, and did not slow his torrent of words.

"Hey, I could **so **see you and her together! Ha ha ha! 'Heero Yui becomes sensitive boyfriend of super hot Usagi.' And you'd both write letters to each other in class, saying sappy things like;" Duo clasped his hands together over his heart and fluttered his eyelids, "'Oh dear sweet Usagi, you are the light of my life. Let's get married and live in a house someday.'" He laughed out loud. "And you'd help her around the house and everything! Oh, hey! There they are, over the street!" Duo said, pointing excitedly. "HEY! MINAKO, USAGI, MAKOTO, AMI!! OVER HERE!!" He yelled across the street, waving his arms frantically, trying to attract their attention.

"Oh, look. Heero and Duo are on the other side of the street, and Duo seems to be doing some sort of dance for us," Ami said gesturing to where the hyperactive Duo and the silent Heero were standing/dancing.

"AH! C'mon Usagi, now's your chance! Let's go over there!" Minako waved to the two boys then ran to the pedestrian crossing.

"Ugh! Minako! I don't need a chance! I **do not** like Heero! Minako? Minako! Are you listening to me?!" Usagi chased after her long-haired friend, who was completely unaware that the shorter girl was on edge and willing to take drastic actions to remove the cause of it.

"I don't think it's a good idea to join Minako and Usagi in this point in time," Ami stated, noticing that Usagi was fuming. 

"I know what you mean, I think being around Usa at the moment could be considered a health hazard," Makoto said with a crooked smile, as her odango-haired friend's face slowly became more and more red. "But what are they going to do about their uniforms, the shop isn't opened on Sunday's." Makoto said thoughtfully. After all, the **true** reason of their venture into to town was so that they could pick up their new school uniforms

"Well, we know Minako's and Usagi's sizes, we could just buys theirs for them and get them to pay back the money at home," Ami said logically, nodding her head.

"Sounds good, Ames. USA! MINA!" Makoto yelled to her two friends who were just now crossing the street, "WE'LL GET YOUR UNIFORMS, PAY US BACK AT HOME!" Minako gave them a 'thumbs up' and a wink, so they both continued on toward the Uniform Store.

"Hi Duo! Hey Heero! What brings you into town?" Minako asked, rocking on her heels, giving the (very wrong) impression that she was an innocent angel.

"We just came down to get some software for Heero's laptop. He wasn't keen on me coming but I did anyway… Oh, yeah! And I got a milkshake!" He said proudly, holding up the large cardboard cup with what could only be called pride.

"What flavor?" Minako asked, who was actually **interested** in the milkshake and it's flavor.

"It's my favourite, 3/4 chocolate 1/4 strawberry." He took another big gulp.

"You're kidding, right? That's **my **favourite too!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"What's your second favourite?"

"Well…"

Usagi, realizing that Minako had completely forgotten her matchmaking and was now obsessed with the milkshake, noticed that it was safe to leave without her plotting any secret dates or telling Heero that she had a crush on him. She turned and walked in the same direction she was when she was on the other side of the street.

Unfortunately for Usagi, Heero also left them at the same time, so now they were walking together up the hill.

In all honesty, Usagi knew full well that he wasn't intentionally walking with her, they just happened to be walking at the same pace. So she decided that she should at least **try** for a conversation.

"So what software are you getting?" She asked as they both trudged along the street.

"Standard mathematics software for the accelerated class."

"Okay then…" The fact that Heero was a brainiac had slipped her mind. Also, the fact that her parents instructed her to pick up the laptop they'd purchased for her new school had **also** slipped her mind. "Hey Heero…?"

"Hn."

"Which place are you getting your stuff from?" She asked, hoping that it was the same store that was holding her laptop for her. (Everything would be much more convenient that way).

"Tech-Software." ((AN: I couldn't think of a name, my little sister thought this one up. So sue me))

"Oh really? Excellent! You see, I have to pickup my laptop there."

"Hn."

Lunch had just finished.  She was quite bored and wondered what she could do to kill time until dinner. An idea popped into her head. She walked up to Heero's door and knocked three times… and got no answer. She knocked again. Silence. So she used the method that had been so effective the night before; and just kept knocking and knocking and knocking………until the door flew open and Heero Yui's glaring face was staring right at her.

"Oh, hello Heero. Um… I was just wondering… um… you're good with computers, right?"

His glaring face took on a look of disinterest.

"Well? Are you good with computers? Yes or no?" She was now reverting into her stubborn mood. Heero looked as if he was mentally sighed then grunted a 'yes.' "OK, cool. Do you think you can help me with mine? I don't know how to hook everything up or load anything on…" She averted his gaze, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Hn." 

Usagi brightened visibly.

"Was that a yes? OK, great! Here…" She snatched one of his hands and dragged him into her room… where she sat down on the swivel chair and looked expectantly at the screen and waited for him to fix it.

Normally, it was his preference to sit in any chair and fix what needed to be fixed (sitting in the chair gave the feeling of control and made life easier). But Usagi seemed to have decided that he should be able to upload and fix everything standing up and leaning over her.

"Software?" He asked, obviously cutting down the amount of words he was using.

"Oh yeah… it's all down here in this boxy thing they gave me. Apparently it's got all the stuff I'll need for the next two or three years," she said leaning down, picking the box off the ground and passing it to him.

"Hn." He sounded more peeved than usual. Usagi assumed it was because he was hungry (well she got antsy when she was hungry) although really it was because she hadn't even made an **attempt** at trying to load everything on. 

"OK, so what now?" She asked, swiveling around to face him and almost knocking the box out of his hands.

"Turn it on," He said bluntly.

"It **won't **turn on. See?" She pressed and held the power button for a few seconds, but nothing happened.

"It's battery mustn't be charged. Plug in the battery charger." He said in a neutral tone, but it was obvious he was getting a bit more annoyed.

"Plug in the what?"

"The battery charger."

"What does that do?" Usagi asked, knowing full well what it did, but the opportunity to annoy Heero just couldn't be missed. His right eyelid flickered in annoyance. He passed the box back to her and opened all the pockets in the laptop carry bag, taking out every cable inside and laying them neatly on her desk. One by one he plugged every cable and cord into it's proper place.

"Box," was all he said as he held out his hand. Usagi sullenly handed the box over. He opened the box (although it was more like ripping it open with a bit too much force) and too his absolute **delight **found over 40 CDs lying neatly inside, just waiting for the poor soul that had 17 hours of spare time to upload them all. "Can I sit down?" He asked gruffly, although it sounded like he was saying 'shove it.'

"No," Usagi said with a frown and crossed arms, "I'm going to be sitting in this chair while this is being done so unless you want me to sit in your **lap **you'll have to stand up." Unfortunately she ruined the effect her words had by poking out her tongue then staring at him in a challenging way. He stared, intensely glared, rather, right back at her. But, as much as he hated to back down, he was not going to have a girl sit in his lap just because he had too much pride.

"Fine." He turned back to the screen and continued to load her programs on for her.

A few hours passed and he was only a third of the way through. His legs and back were sore from standing in the same position. Screw pride, he had to sit down **now**.

"I have to sit down if you want me to finish this."

"Not unless you want me to—"

"Fine! Just let me sit down!" He said with way too much (angry) emotion for Heero Yui. His agitated state and this infuriating girl were having a devastating effect on him.

Usagi however, was petrified and went completely pale. She hadn't thought that he would say yes! And now… now she had to sit in his lap until he was done.

_Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. _She thought to herself, over and over again, slowing driving herself into a mental pit of despair. Her brain then kicked in and decided helped her out. _C'mon, Usagi! Don't let him beat you! Just bite your lip and think about something else. You can do it!_

And so, she got off the chair, let him sit down, bit her lip, closed her eyes…and sat down on his lap. 

_Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew…._

This **had **to be one of the worst things she had to go through in her life. (And she had done several multiple hour exams, which, unfortunately she all failed miserably.) It wasn't uncomfortable **physically**, it was just the thought of it.

_Ew._

Heero's thoughts ran along a similar line.

He now had quite possibly the most annoying girl in Japan sitting on his **lap**. She wasn't heavy or squirming about or chattering away, but, just the **thought** of it… and even worse, the thought of Duo possibly barging in. Of course, now he had an accomplice so the annoying chatter and teasing would double.

But at least she wasn't talking. He could at least work in some kind of peace.

Lunch had just ended. Everyone left the table except for herself and Trowa; unfortunately, they had clean up duty. 

Be that as it may, Makoto found two up sides to the situation:

#1: She liked to cook, but she also liked to clean, unlike most people.

And #2: She was with Trowa.

Makoto was almost sure that his cool, silent, seemingly uncaring exterior was really just hiding a wonderful person and the perfect man for her. Her conscience, however, told her that she was a lovesick fool who fell in love with every second boy she spotted. And much as she tried to deny it, she knew it to be true.

But there was still hope. (That's what she always countered her depressing conscience with.) She would retort right back, _'What if this is my perfect match and I just let it slip? I might miss out on my chance to find the perfect guy! I have to keep going! I don't mind if I get rejected, because that means that next time I have more of a chance!_

Sometimes she surprised herself with her optimism. 

Quickly shaking her head, she returned back to reality to see Trowa staring at her expectantly. 

"Uh… um… OK, well…" She knew she was blushing but she kept going. "OK, so we'll have one person to carry the cups, plates, knives and forks in the um… the kitchen and one person to…um… wash them. The, uh… the person who carried everything in will dry, and the…the person who washed can put everything away." Trowa nodded ever so slightly. "S-so do you want to wash or dry?" He stared at her for a few more seconds, as if searching for something, then finally said,

"I'll dry." He then began to collect the plates and cutlery on the table.

And so, Makoto walked into the kitchen, filled up the sink with hot water and some detergent and put on some rubber gloves. Trowa began to stack all the dirty dishes to her right on the bench and she scrubbed them, after they were clean she stacked them on the flat part of the sink to her left ((AN: You know, the flat part of the sink where you put those ugly plastic racks were you can just stack your wet dishes and let them air-dry? Yes, no? OK then…))

After he had brought everything into the kitchen he took a tea towel out of the cloth drawer and started to dry all of the dishes, after he dried a dish he placed it on the bench to his left.

It was all a very boring procedure. Makoto picked up a dish, Makoto cleaned the dish, and Makoto stacked the dish. Trowa picked up the dish, Trowa dried the dish, and Trowa stacked the dish. And so on and so forth.

Usually, Makoto found cleaning soothing. It gave time to calm down and think about things. However now it just seemed a bit daunting with the taller, silent boy to her. She hated working with noise and preferred the calm that silence gave her but now it was just deafening. She needed a conversation. 

"What did you do in the morning?" She asked, trying her best to sound cheerful, however her words came out a bit too quiet than she meant to.

"Homework," was his short reply.

"Is that all you ever do on Weekends?" She asked, quite shocked at the idea. He nodded.

"Well then, tomorrow all nine of us will go out for coffee or a shake or something," she decided, "….but where to…?" Her brow knitted as she tried to think of a place in the area. "Do you know anywhere?" He shook his head. A short silence ensued.

"Duo or Quatre might." Makoto **should** have assumed that Trowa just felt a bit guilty for coming off as cold and cruel so decided to add a few extra words to the conversation, instead she believed that he using his vocal chords was a way of telling her that he would talk to her, and therefore **like** her!

Her brain (that was conveniently not being used at the moment because lovesickness was taking over again) was most likely bashing itself against a wall.

She was snapped out of her reverie as her right hand reached out and found no dirty dishes. 

"All done," Makoto said, giving no one in particular a sunny smile. She looked left to inspect Trowa's progress to find that he, also, had finished. "Thankyou." He nodded to her and then exited the kitchen, allowing her to put everything away alone.

"Checkmate," Ami said, moving her bishop.

"Well played," said Quatre with an angelic smile. "Do you want to play again?" 

Ami considered the offer before nodding her head.

"I would love to," she said, returning his smile. Quatre and herself exchanged the defeated pieces from the last game. "So how was your morning, Quatre?" She asked as she began to set up her side of the board.

"Oh, nothing much, just homework."

"Next time, you could come into to town with us if you wanted to. I'd love it if you came."

"O…OK… Sure," Quatre said, blushing **ever** so slightly.

"Well what now? We've all ready played every board game in the house and there's nothing on TV," Minako whined as she turned the television off. Duo was trying his best to think of something they could do. He suddenly jumped to his feet, dashed out of the lounge room and ran up the stairs. "HEY! Wait for me, Duo!" Minako yelled as she sprinted up the stairs and went into his room. She spotted an arrangement of things scattered over the floor; boxers, manga, schoolbooks, shirts, his doona and pillow and a wide variety of trading cards. Duo was currently in the process of rummaging through his cupboard.

"Here it is!"  He said gleefully, holding up two plastic guns and two odd, plastic, rectangular things with black straps hanging off it.

"Yes, there it is. But **what** is it?" Minako asked impatiently.

"It's 'Laser Fight' ((AN: I know that the real thing is called 'Laser Challenge' but I think it sounds silly)). I got it for a birthday ages ago," he said excitedly as he strapped the odd rectangle to his chest. "Here I'll do yours for you." He bounced over to her and strapped her in.

"OK. So how does it work?" Minako asked as he handed one of the plastic guns to her.

"First turn on your vest thingo and your gun," he said as he did just that, and odd, high-pitched swirly noises sounded as they were both turned on. Minako followed suit. "This is a gun," Duo said proudly, holding up his own.

"Thankyou, Captain Obvious." Duo took that as a compliment and smiled.

"I need to try and land five shots on you, and if I do, you die. Of course, after every three shots you have to reload." He then demonstrated reloading by pressing a button on the side of his weapon, another high-pitched noise emitting from the gun as he did so.  "I'll show you what happens when you die." He shot himself thrice, reloaded the gun, and then shot himself another two times. A 'crashing' noise warbled out of the 'vest thingo' that signified that he had lost. "See, easy. Now let's play!"

"You're on!" Minako said, whipping out of the room and running downstairs, screaming excitedly.

Load 'pinging' noises were filtering into Usagi's room from downstairs and through the closed door. Heero grit his teeth. He had a memory of Wufei burning that game. The garbled crashing noise reached himself and the blonde haired girl sitting on him, evidently showing that someone had just triumphed. A spirited discussion ensued.

"No fair, you used the mirror, Minako!"

"You never said I wasn't allowed to! I won fair and square!"

"Another game!"

"Alright, but I'll beat you anyway!"

"Just try!" Duo said as he could be heard running up the stairs.

Duo ran Up the stairs as fast as he could, firing a few of his 'laser bullets' as he ducked behind the banister, then began firing again, forcing Minako to duck under a table.

"Come and get me!" He yelled as he ran around the corner and stood still briefly in the corridor. With a spurt of Genius, he moved to Usagi's room, opened the door (so violently it almost bounced back and hit him in the face) and fired two shots. And then his brain registered. Of course it then proceeded to go numb with shock. Two shots were fired from outside the room and Duo's vest made the warbling electronic 'defeat' sound.

"Hah! I win agai—" Minako looked in Usagi's room, and her actions were along similar lines. Pure shock.

Usagi. Heero. Lap. Sitting.

*******End chapter 2

Heh heh heh…. I wanted to do a cliffy… did I succeed or was it just plain stupid?

Anywho, I wanted to churn out this chapter quickly because of the **wonderful** reviews I got. I was touched. *goes off into her own world for a moment*

…*ahem*

ARGH! Stupid Heero! His character is just… so hard to keep in character! I'm trying to keep him as stoic, but then he's just boring… should I make him stoic **and** sarcastic, or would that be OOC? **Help me reviewers, help me!** Trowa's the same. Stupid Trowa. Sorry that I left Wufei out it's just that he's boring as hell without Duo tormenting him, and Duo was too busy playing with Minako and drinking milkshakes. 

If any of you out there would like anything in particular to happen between these couples, just leave a review! **I LOVE REVIEWS! I LOVE EVERYBODY!!!!**


	3. Katanas and New Arrivals

Well I'm back again and ready for another chapter. But before that I just have to say…………

**OOOOOHH! I love everybody even MORE now! ** You're all so nice to me *sniff*.  THANKYOUUUUUUUUUUUU………….!!!!!!!!! ^ _^ (Your lovely reviews is what makes me want to get these chapters out as fast as I can!)

NB: ¤°°º°º°°¤|çé ß|úé Éyé§¤°°º°º°°¤ asked me whether or not the girls were Senshi. I just don't know. I think later on I **might** turn them into senshi but before that I'm going to focus a bit on Rei and Wufei (hee, it rhymes) because poor Wuffie hasn't gotten much attention yet. (BTW, I didn't include Rei at first 'cause **obviously** she doesn't go to the same school as the rest of them --I don't think Minako does either… my memory tends to fail me, you see, but oh well…-- so she wouldn't **have** to move schools.)

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Three: Katanas and New Arrivals**

Minako saw Duo ran up the stairs and into the corridor from her hiding place under the table.

_I've got him now!_ She thought excitedly, as she crept out from underneath and began leaping up the stairs three at a time. She heard the sound of a door banging open and a few of the laser-shots being fired.  Reaching the top of the stairs, she rounded the corner and fired two shots right at Duo. His vest pack warbled its defeat.

"Hah!" She said as she walked up to him, assuming he was frozen in shock because she had won. "I win agai--!" She saw what he was looking at. She was completely stunned.

Heero could feel the girl in his lap tense, she didn't even seemed to breathe. He wasn't sure that he was breathing either. Endless seconds of silence passed, four sets of blue eyes staring in shock, fear, and panic.

Minako suddenly began to laugh.

"I knew it!" She said, pointing a finger at them both. "Not even a full day together and already there's sparks flying! I was right! I was **right**!! I **knew it**!!" She grinned happily, believing that she had the both of them figured out.

"Ah--… …" Usagi quickly shook her head, trying to clear it. (And accidentally smacked Heero in the face with one of her long pig-tails). "…I--It's not what you think Minako!!" Usagi yelled angrily as her face slowly began to heat up.

"Oh, maybe it's **exactly** what I think, Usa." She turned around and strutted self confidently over to her door and went inside.

"It's not!!" Usagi cried, her load call being drowned out by the music Minako switched on. Her face was completely crimson by this point, and every muscle in her was tensed. She squeezed her eyes shut. _Please let me die. Please let me die. Please let me die…_ she repeated in her head. 

She stopped abruptly and, with one eye every so slightly open, she looked at the still open doorway.

Duo was still standing there. His plastic gun was still pointing at them, his mouth was still hanging open and he seemed to have not blinked or taken a breath since he saw them.

Usagi slowly climbed off Heero's lap, walked over to the door and closed it softly, Duo staying frozen the whole time.

She stared at the door for a long time until her face returned to its normal colour, then walked over at sat on her bed, staring at her hands meekly and trying to think of an excuse to tell Minako next time she saw her.

Heero continued his work.

Wiping off the sheen of sweat on his brow, Wufei slowly climbed up the stairs, his sheathed katana held in his right hand.

He finally reached the top and noticed the braided bane of his life standing frozen and gaping at a door, an idiot plastic gun held out straight with both hands.

He frowned. He could have sworn that he burnt all off those.

"Maxwell, you idiot. What are you doing?" He hit the brown haired boy painfully over the head with his sheath. As soon as he did, the fool began screaming and running in circles. He soon found some kind of direction and ran to his room open and closing the door at an astonishing speed. This speed, however, did not allow enough time for his entire braid to enter the room. So he watched with disdain as the tail of the plait slid down the crack in the door and reached the floor with a thump that he assumed to be the thick idiot's head hitting the ground.

He narrowed his eyes at the sheer idiocy of the boy then stomped over to his room.

Duo's eyes snapped open as cold water splashed over his face. He looked around frantically and spotted Quatre and Ami standing over him, looking concerned.

"Are you okay Duo?" Quatre asked, tilting his head a little.

"Heh! No problems!" A sudden pang at the back of his head led him to reconsider. "Oww…. Huh? What happened?"

"We heard screaming and a thud from downstairs, we rushed up and found your braid laying outside your door and knew something was wrong," Ami said with a comforting smile.

"How'd I get in my room…? Last thing I remember was…" His eyes widened as the picture of Usagi and Heero flashed briefly through his mind.

"Duo? Duo, are you okay?" Quatre asked as a soft, keening wail began to sound from the boy's open mouth. The edges of his mouth curved up slowly and the keening wail soon became giggling. Duo suddenly jumped up and pranced out his door singing loudly,

"Usagi and Heero sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes the love then comes the marriage—"

The sound of a door opening bought Minako's voice into the chant.

"—then comes the baby in the golden carriage! Usagi and Heero sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S…"

Quatre and Ami sighed simultaneously at their antics.

"I think some people's minds simply stop advancing after primary school," Ami said jokingly as the immature pair in the corridor continued to chant.

"And we have to share a house with two of them," said Quatre, shaking his head.

"—comes the love, then comes the marriage. Then comes the baby in the golden carriage! Usagi and Heero sitting in a tree…"

After putting away all of the clean dishes, Makoto had taken one of her favourite romance novels and gone out onto the front lawn to read it. Apart from cooking, reading a book outside on a beautiful day was her favourite pastime. It made her forget that she didn't have a boyfriend and boosted her optimism for a short time.

Makoto sighed as she turned the page. The main female character reminded her of Rei. After only a day she already missed her fiery-minded friend. It was quite depressing to know that they couldn't simply meet up at the Crown anymore, or that she wouldn't be able to separate her and Usagi from their violent bickering. She would also miss all the free love-charms that Rei would give her whenever they were requested. And to add insult to injury, they couldn't even visit her on Weekends because getting to Tokyo from where they were now would be too time consuming and expensive. She sighed again.

Makoto rolled over onto her stomach and crossed her legs behind her as she came closer to her favourite part of the novel. The two lovers were just about to admit their love for one another when…

… a large shadow covered her book.

Looking up to find who had just performed the horrendous and insulting act, Makoto saw a truck. Her novel was forgotten as he heart leapt as she read "Japan Movers Inc." in large red letters across the side.

A blue Mitsubishi sedan pulled up behind it and a very familiar, raven haired, amethyst eyed teenager popped out and waved.

"Hey, Makoto!" She said, running up towards her pony tailed friend and giving her a hug. "Wanna help me get all of this inside?" She said with a grin and waving her hand at the truck. Makoto was still astonished at the appearance of the girl she had just been thinking about that she didn't even hear the question.

"Rei! What are you doing **here**?!" Makoto asked in a shrill voice that was extremely uncommon for her.

"Well, that's some welcome," She said, putting her hands on her hips. "I can tell you later. Where's everybody else?" She looked around, seemingly expecting her other three friends to pop out from one of the several shrubs and flower bushes littering the front lawn.

"Oh, they're all inside. Here, I'll help you bring your stuff in. Well… some of it," Makoto said as she looked up at the monstrous truck idling before her.

"Oh, that's not all my stuff. I only have three suitcases. The rest is just other people's stuff who are moving to this area as well," Rei said disinterestedly as she walked over to the gargantuan vehicle. 

"…I-S-S-N-G! First comes the love, then comes the marriage, then comes the baby in the golden—**REI?!!**" Minako screeched as she saw her black haired friend enter the house with suitcases in hand.

"In the golden 'rei'…? What's that meant to be?" Duo asked as Minako began to run up and down the corridor screaming 'REI'S HERE! REI'S HERE! REI'S HERE!' 

Duo walked over to the stairs (hoping to find out what Minako was yelling about) and saw Makoto with an unfamiliar girl standing in the doorway. Duo copied Minako's actions, but had his own version, "ANOTHER HOT GIRL'S HERE! ANOTHER HOT GIRL'S HERE! ANOTHER HOT GIRL'S HERE!!"

Curious why people were screaming down the halls, doors began to open and residents of the house began fling insults, queries and requests at the two screeching teens sprinting up and down the hall.

"MAXWELL! ONNA! SHUT UP!!!" was what came out of Wufei's mouth.

"Please quiet down," was all Trowa said as we went back into his room.

"**Rei**?? Are you sure?" Ami said innocently as she tried to catch one of them for more questioning.

"Who's here? Duo? Duo, please calm down. Duo?" The gentle Arabian asked softly as he tried in vain to stop Duo's excessive rampaging.

"REI!?! WHERE?!?" Usagi asked as she began looking left and right down the corridor to find her (occasionally insulting) friend. 

"DOWNSTAIRS! DOWNSTAIRS! DOWNSTAIRS! DOWNSTAIRS!" Yelled Duo and Minako as they raced each other down the stairs. 

The rest of the interested (and one of the annoyed) inhabitants of the house made there downstairs, however only one of them was wielding a katana. Trowa had decided to stay in his room and Heero refused to move for **anything** Duo found interesting.

Rei look in a mixture of shock and amazement at the wide and spectacularly odd variety people bouncing, walking or running down the stairs. 

She felt as though she hadn't seen her four closest friends in a millennium though it was actually closer to about 24 hours. But other people besides her friends were making their way down the stairs. One of them was a boy with long brown hair in a braid and playful blue eyes, the one afterwards was a blonde boy who was chatting to Ami, and the last unfamiliar face belonged to a Chinese boy wielding a nasty-looking sword and shouting curses at some person or some**thing **called 'Duo.'

"REI!!" Yelled Minako and Usagi as they both screeched to a halt in front of her then proceeded to give her hugs, although it felt fro Rei more like they were both choking the dear life out of her.

"Mi…na…ko…… Meat… ball… head…… let… go… can't… breathe…" She managed to get out in a strangled whisper before they both set her free from their death-grips. Ami was much more civil in her greeting as she said, "Rei, it's wonderful to see you!"

Rei was about to formally greet them all when the Chinese boy suddenly yelled, "MAXWELL!!!" and proceeded to take a swipe at the braided boy with his katana. The victim of this attack stepped aside nonchalantly, as if being violently and mercilessly attacked with a sword was an everyday occurrence.

"Hey, chill out Wu-Man! We've got another babe in the house, aren't you going to say hi?" He said teasingly. Rei wasn't sure to take being called 'babe' as a compliment or sexist insult, she was just about to decide when the Chinese boy retorted to the braided boy.

"I would **never** waste my time speaking to some weak idiot **onna**, Maxwell!" He said, preparing his sword for another attack.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Rei screeched as she threw her bags to the ground and turned rage-filled eyes towards the insulting boy. "HOW **DARE** YOU ACCUSE **ME** OF BEING A WEAK IDIOT, YOU DENSE CHAUVINISTIC PIG!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY, **GIRL**, BEFORE I GET MAD!!" Wufei shouted, grip on the katana's handle intensifying.

"YOU ALREADY ARE MAD, YOU COMPLETE **FOOL**! NOW PUT DOWN THAT **PATHETIC** SWORD BEFORE YOU CUT YOURSELF!" She screamed, waving an angry finger at him and his weapon.

"I WOULD NEVER LIVE TO SEE THE DAY THAT **YOU** OR ANY OTHER **FEMALE **HANDLES A SWORD WITH THE EXPERTISE I DO!!"

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, YOU **IGNORANT** ANIMAL, THAT AS PRIESTESS AND **GUARDIAN** ((AN: not too sure about the guardian bit, but it works so run with it)  OF MY GRANDFATHER'S TEMPLE IN TOKYO THAT I AM AN **EXPERT** IN KARATE AND SWORD FIGHTING!!!" She roared. 

Silence filled the room for an extremely compact period of time, allowing Rei a quick glance at the horrified witnesses of the argument. She softened her voice and turned back to the boy in front of her. "And if you would like me to prove my skills, I would be **exceedingly** happy to." 

He narrowed his eyes and she gave a smug smile.

"8 o'clock in the training hall. Get someone to show you the way and have an ambulance waiting, onna, because you'll need it," He said as, after one final glare, he walked out through a door that led to the backyard.

"I have to give it to you Rei, making an enemy and challenging the first person in sight to a death match was certainly one hell of a welcome," Minako said with a raised eyebrow and a cocky grin. Rei growled.

"He deserved it! Is he always such a sexist moron?" Rei asked a rather shocked Duo.

"Pretty much," He said, shrugging. Rei 'hmphed' and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"Well at least he's **gone** for the moment," she said as she straightened her shirt and smoothed her skirt. "Hey… is this **all** the people who live here?" Rei said, looking at the measly number of people in front of her.

"No, there's two more but—" Ami began, only to be interrupted by the grinning braided boy.

"I'll get them!" He left the group and loped up the stairs bellowing, "HEEEERO! TROOOOWA!! YOU HAVE TO COME DOWNSTAIRS **NOW** OR YOU'LL GET KICKED OUT OF THE HOOOUSE!!!" He clapped his hands evilly and paraded down the stairs happily. Two boys sauntered after him, looking less than happy.

"I'll introduce you to them all, Rei! This one here with the braid and loud mouth is Duo…" Minako said gesturing to the grinning boy who was on the receiving end of a few death glares. "The tall one is Trowa. The blonde haired one near Ami is Quatre. And the one Usagi was—" Minako stopped abruptly as Usagi jabbed her quickly in the ribs with her elbow. "Uh… the one next to Trowa is Heero."

"Don't expect him to say much," Duo added.

"Oh, and the one you just challenged to a duel was Wufei Chang," Minako said matter-of-factly. Rei nodded.

"So why **are** you **here**, Rei?" Usagi asked as she poked her in the shoulder.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you…  Well, a few months ago one of my distant cousins came to stay with us. **I **noticed she had a lot of psychic potential even though she was only 10, and so did Grandpa. So he decided to help her master her abilities. A little while afterwards you guys left to come here. It wasn't your fault, I know, but I felt left out and thought I wouldn't see you all again. I told Grandpa that it didn't matter if I was in Tokyo or here, because this school has just as good a reputation as my old one, and I don't have to be a priestess at the temple because Akiko is there." She shrugged.

"You mean you're never going to be a priestess again?" Makoto was horrified that Rei would give up what meant so much to her just because of her friends.

"Are you insane? I could never do **that**. During school holidays my plan is to return to Tokyo and help at the temple, but during the school term, I'll stay here," she said smiling. Everyone was nodding as what she was saying made perfect sense. Well, everyone **except** Trowa and Heero, who were simply bored out of their wits.

"Rei…?" Ami asked, a slight frown across her brow. "How are you going to duel Wufei if you don't own a katana?" 

Rei grinned. She knelt down to one of her suitcases on the floor and opened it. Lying on top of a multitude of fashionable clothes and two full school uniforms, lay a sword in it's sheath, wrapped in white silk with a thin piece of red rope tied around the centre. She picked it up gently and slowly unwrapped the piece of rope. She let the thin piece of red and the exquisite white silk fall to the floor. Left in her hand was a smooth black sheath with delicate red carvings swirling across it.

"This was Grandpa's. He doesn't look like much now, but he used to be a great swordsman. He was the one who taught me." She grinned as she looked at the weapon in her hand.

"Um… this may sound dumb, but **why** did you bring a deadly weapon to the boarding house?" Duo asked, eyes transfixed on the sheathed sword in front of him.

 "Well, you have to be prepared for anything," Rei said, sounding a bit irritated by the question.

"I think she meant to say, 'you have to be prepared to stab anything,'" Minako said to Duo behind her hand, making sure Rei heard.

"Her and Wufei would make a great couple," Duo chuckled. Minako nodded. Rei Fumed.

"Minako! Stop **matchmaking**!! That's **my** job!" Rei said vigorously as she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, that's true, but you can't very well matchmake **yourself** can you?" Minako said devilishly as her and Duo began a hushed conversation behind their hands, eyes occasionally darting to Rei and then back again. Heero and Trowa took the opportunity to silently saunter off back to their rooms. Usagi noticed them leaving.

"Hey Heero! Don't forget to finish my software stuff for me!" She said in a commanding but cheerful way. His mouth moved as if he was silently mumbling under his breath, and then he walked into Room number 2.

"All right then, who wants to help me unpack?" Rei asked as she began to re-wrap her katana.

"I'm so sorry Rei, but Quatre and I were about to play a game of chess," ((AN: Is that all they ever do? Don't worry, they'll do more interesting stuff in the next few chapters)) Ami said apologetically.

Minako's head popped up. "Sorry Rei. Can't. Busy." Her head moved back down as she and Duo continued their secret conversation behind their hands.

"Sorry, Rei, but I have to make sure Heero doesn't ruin my new laptop." Usagi turned and walked up the stairs, looking as thought every fiber in her body didn't want to be in the same room as the Heero boy.

 Makoto sighed. "I guess I'll help you Rei." She picked up two of her friends bags and walked up the stairs. They stopped as they both looked down the corridor.

"Which rooms mine then?" Rei looked up to Makoto as if she would know the answer.

"Room 10 is free." 

Makoto had to use a lot of self-control to stop herself from laughing. Rei, without knowing it, was now Wufei's next-door neighbor.

Usagi lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to block out the annoying noise of Heero's fingers tapping on the keyboard. It had been an hour since Rei had arrived, meaning that now the time must be around 4 o'clock, and all she had done during that time was stare at the roof.

_God, he's a **machine**. _Usagi thought to herself as Heero continued to load on all her programs and software. _He's been doing this forever, and he's just sitting still and continuing to do one thing after another… He must be **really** bored if loading on 40 separate pieces of software is the most interesting thing you can do all day. Oh, well. Guess I can't complain, all I have to do is lay here while he does all the work._ She yawned and rolled over. _I didn't realize how tiring doing nothing was… _Was her last rational thought before she fell softly into sleep's welcoming arms.

As Ami and Quatre walked towards the lounge room and Makoto and Rei made their way up the stairs, Duo and Minako began an **extremely** important conversation.

"So how are we going to set up Rei and Wufei?" Minako asked, putting her chin in her fist and thinking.

"What about Heero and Usagi, though? What are we going to do about those two?" Duo pointed out.

"Nah, there going along fine. I think the **really** big problem here is getting Rei and Wufei to hook up. I mean, Usagi's already sitting in Heero's lap, so when the time is right all we need to do is give each of them a little push and… TA DA!… a wonderful romance emerges. But as for Rei and Wufei… well, I think they'll need more time and a **lot **of our help."

"Definantly."

"I don't think we should rush anything though," Minako said frowning and shaking her head slightly. "Because that would probably just push them apart and that would make our job **twice** as hard."

"We should wait until after their duel. See how they interact and **then** we'll help them out," Duo said logically.

"Well what do we do until then?" Minako asked.

A smile spread across duo's face.

"How about another game of Laser Fight?"

"You're just asking for a loss, aren't you?"

They both raced each other to Duo's room to set themselves up for another game.

Heero quickly glanced at the sleeping girl to his right, and again he wondered why he was wasting his time setting up her laptop for her when all she did while she was awake was irritate him.

_At least now she's not bothering you **or **sitting on you, _he thought to himself.****

****

He briefly wondered why Usagi sitting on his lap wasn't automatically put in the same column under bothering, but dismissed it as nothing.

He looked at the small clock in the lower right corner of the screen in front of him. It read 4:32 PM. He mentally sighed. He wouldn't be finished for another two hours at least.

Wufei stomped through backyard angrily, swinging his katana and cutting through anything that got in its way.

_Idiot onna!_ He thought violently. What a fool she was to challenge him! He guessed it didn't matter anyway, the stupid girl had been idiotic enough to challenge him, and he wouldn't go easy on her.

However, as confident and nonchalant as he tried to be, something tugged at the back of his mind telling him the she wasn't to be taken lightly. This angered him even more.

He reached the back gate at the end of the garden and opened it, knowing but not caring that he wasn't allowed into the school or the training hall at this time of night. He walked through the school determinedly until he came to the training hall, he slid open the door slowly and walked in.

_Just you wait, onna. I will **show** you the power of my sword._

_At last. Complete._****

He shutdown the laptop and slowly turned his head left and right, stretching the soft ache that had formed at the base of his neck. He looked over to the girl's bedside clock and the bright red numbers '7:12' stared at him.

"Hn."

It had taken longer than he had thought. It was unusual for him to estimate incorrectly but he supposed it didn't mean the end of the world. He laced his fingers together and pushed them in front of him, stretching his back.

For the second time he looked over to the sleeping form of the girl who had put him through the utter waste of his time.

"It's completed."

She rolled over and her eyes half opened as she yawned. 

"OK, mum. I'll be down for breakfast in a sec," she said as she stretched her arms and her legs. She stood up, rubbed her eyes and blinked them open. She yelped. The sight of seeing Heero's emotionless face and not her mother's smiling, caring one was a bit of a shock.  "Eh… s-sorry..." She blushed then looked over at her clock. 

7:15.

 "Ah, nearly dinnertime. Are you done?" She asked, looking over at her laptop.

He grunted.

"Are you **done**? Yes or no?" She asked, looking him in the eye.

"Yes."

"Then thankyou very much. I guess I owe you then." She chuckled. "OK, so when you need a favor, just ask. I'm in your debt." He didn't seem to take her seriously but she didn't mind. Her laptop was ready and dinner was almost up. Not even Heero's attitude could spoil **dinner**.

*******End chapter 3

Well not much happened here (sorry about that, just had to get Rei into the story before I went further). I'll leave the duel for next chapter, which probably won't be out for another few days (I've been doing one chapter a day but tomorrow I'm too busy so it'll have to wait). 

Oh, and please give me your opinions on whether or not you'd like to see senshi or no senshi in later chapters.

Until next chapter, bai bai!

~Jemjols ^_^


	4. Belief and Weakness

Someone read the story, and being curious, asked me a few questions. I thought that the answers would bring more information and understanding to the fic.

**Q #1: So what city ARE they in, then?**

**A: **I honestly don't know. It's just not Tokyo, but it's still fairly big.

**Q #2: How's the boarding house set out? (Not going to bother paragraphing this properly, just read if you're INSANELY curious.)**

**A: **It's a bit odd. (I took it mostly from the boarding house at my school.) It's not actually **in **the school; it's just a big mansion kind of next to the school**. **At the back door of the house, there's about a three-meter wide path that leads to a gate at the end of the backyard that leads into the school, allowing access for the boarders. Anyway, back to the house. As soon as you enter, there's a large, open, empty space with a big round, polished table in the centre that has a bulky vase with flowers in the centre of it (Flowers are changed every four to five days) There is red carpet on the floor and **lots** of paintings and pictures on the walls (most depicting the school in it's early days).  It's very odd. You see, the entry is designed so that the second floor kinda goes **around **it, allowing sunlight from a giant circle of colorful stained glass in the roof(the roof, not the ceiling) down into the entry. The corridor with the residence's rooms runs along on top of the lounge room and the corridor leading to the backyard and, if you saw it from the outside, it kind just out for quite a bit, being held up with thick brick pillars. Anyway, from the entry there are four sets of large double-doors, a grand staircase with red carpet running up it with an extremely wide corridor to the right that leads to the backyard. (It's set out pretty much symmetrically, with the staircase right in front, two rooms to either side, and the corridor to the right.) The first on the right after you enter is the Ballroom. It's pretty much just an empty room with floorboards that is used only for the odd function or exam. It's only called the ballroom because that's what it used to be 50 or so years ago. The doors to the right of the corridor lead to the lounge room (which is very large). It has a TV, VCR, DVD and a whole stack of movies taped off free-to-air television. It also has a few sofas and some beanbags stacked as neatly as is possible in the corner. Oh, and a small library. OK, so anyway, the room first on the **left** after you enter is the kitchen. It's quite large and is mostly white. It has a big fridge, two huge pantries full of food, and lot's of other cupboards decorating the walls that a filled with bowls, plates, cups, etc. The kitchen is devoid of a dishwasher, however, and the school intends to purchase one when there's enough time. Oh, and there's a very old and ugly round clock above the windows (that have the most awful floral curtains you could lay eyes on.) The doors between the kitchen and the staircase lead to the dining room, which is probably the best looking room in the house. It has a long, bark brown table running down the centre, beautiful lights on the roof that are meant to imitate chandeliers and an extremely decorative ceiling. There are a lot of expensive pieces of furniture scattered around, and four large paintings that depict heroes through Japan's ages. **Now, for UPSTAIRS**.  As soon as you walk up the stairs, directly to your left would be the corridor with their living areas to the sides. Right at the end of the corridor is the bathrooms. There are two full sized bathrooms, each one complete with a bath, four showers, four toilets and four sinks. Eventually one will become the boys and one will be for the girls, but one is currently being renovated so everyone must share for the time being. The other rooms, (the Quatre briefly talked about) are built on top of the ballroom and the kitchen. You could get to these by turning left at the top of the staircase. Three rooms are on top of the ballroom, and a small walkway (about a meter and a half wide) that runs along the front of the house connecting the two rooms above the kitchen to the rooms on top of the ballroom. **DONE! PROBABLY NO ONE READ THAT BUT IT'S THERE FOR CURIOSITY'S SAKE.**

**Q #3:** **Ok, so let's just say you ARE making them senshi. How are they going to fight evil if all the evil's still in ****Tokyo****?**

**A: **HAHAHAHA! I've got that one figured out, however if I **do** decide to make them senshi, it will probably be quite a few chapters on.

Disclaimer: Don't own GW or SM. Ha. Ha. Ha… big surprise there.

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Four: Belief  and Weakness**

Usagi was already at the table when the dinner bell rang. A few seconds later, Minako and Duo appeared, wielding plastic guns and chatting loudly about how they were going to get Rei and Wufei together. Usagi almost cackled in relief.

_Ha! They've forgotten about me! Oh Good Lord, **Thankyou!**_

Ami and Quatre entered the dining room and each took seats soon after Duo and Minako. Heero sauntered in and Trowa behind him. Makoto was in the kitchen (she had decided to help with the cooking because it was terrible before she got to it) so the only people who hadn't made an appearance were the firey, raven-haired two that had screamed themselves into a swordfight.

Usagi sighed.

Not only did she have to live with two outraged, sword wielding teens, but she had to live with two pranksters, one completely besotted friend, two boring and emotionless boys, and one of which was in the room next to her own.

It seemed like a cruel joke. A cruel, **boring** joke. She sighed again and put her chin in the palms of her hands, her elbows resting gently on the table. She felt as though nothing, absolutely **nothing,** could bring her out of this sudden bout of boredom, depression and regret for simply not just moving to a different school in Tokyo…

"Meal time!" Makoto announced, walking in with a large dish of food and a plate of rolls with Ms. Barbara following carrying a large bowl of soup.

…Well, maybe **something** could bring her out of it.

Rei put on her calmest face as she walked down the broad staircase. She was only going to get a roll and a glass of water. It was all she needed by means of food and liquids, and she had been preparing herself spiritually ever since she finished setting up her room.

She would beat this boy, this **Wufei Chang**, and she would beat him **well.**

She walked into the Dining Room very softly, her feet barely touching the ground. After two solid hours of meditation beforehand, she had finally been able to boost her fighting spirit and mentally cloak it, allowing her to become faster, lighter and stronger without her opponent noticing. And by cloaking this, he would not be able to detect or read her movements, giving her a great advantage.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her opponent walked out of the corridor. He was sweating heavily and his breath was quick. He flinched a bit when he saw her.

She stopped herself from smiling triumphantly; he hadn't sensed her until she was in plain sight. He had also just made a very grave mistake. He had exerted himself far too much before the battle.

_And he called **me** an idiot!_

His eyes narrowed at her, but she kept her features impassive as she walked into the Dining room and collected what she needed. As she exited, Wufei strode into the room and sat down at an empty seat. beginning to serve himself dinner.

She had to stop herself from smiling again as she pictured Wufei moving too slow and getting cramps in the middle of their fight simply because he'd eaten too much dinner far too late.

No one dared look at Wufei over dinner (Well, maybe Usagi but they were glares that were being blatantly ignored). Ami had made that mistake when she tried to greet him when he walked in after Rei had gone upstairs. It was quite strange and had left Ami a bit traumatized.

Wufei entered the room after Rei left, getting angrier by the second due to not even being **acknowledged** by her. His right eye twitched a bit. We strode rigidly into the room and sat down filling his bowl up with the mixed vegetable soup. His invisible aura seemed to pulse angrily and snap at anyone who looked at him. Ami decided to lighten the situation by conversation.

"Hello Wufei. Good luck toni—" Ami was cut off not only by Wufei look of pure death, hatred and quite possibly insanity, but by the gleaming sword held suspended only a few inches away from her face.

"I do not need pity and patronization from you, **onna**!!" He yelled somewhat unstably. Everyone (well, everyone except Heero and Trowa) took a collective gasp of shock. Not only had he almost attacked the innocent Ami, but he had somehow managed to hide his katana from everybody's sight **and** brought it to the Dinner table!

"Well I thought you had at least **some** sense, Wufei!" Usagi screeched standing up in outrage. Wufei's glare slid to her, his sword still held to Ami's face. "Rei's going to mop the floor with you, but Ami can't fight like Rei can, so attacking her would just be **weak**!!" She stomped her foot and glared at him. He glowered right back at her. His katana flew out of sight and was hidden before anyone said another word. Usagi shook her head and picked up her plates. "I didn't think anyone could spoil dinner (not even Heero and his grunts) but **you!** Hmph!" She walked to the other end of the table, thoroughly annoyed.

_Well, I've just gone from happy to depressed to outraged. I wonder what other emotion is in store for me?_

Dinner finished quickly, and soon everyone was taking in their dishes for Ms. Barbara to wash. (She decided that on weekend dinners she would do the cleaning up so they could go have some fun before the go to bed.)

Everyone slowly began to move out into the entry, chatting, thinking or joking around. Heero separated from them all and began to climb the stairs. Usagi noticed him before he got too far away.

"Hey, Heero! Aren't you going to watch the duel?" She asked. He looked at her for a little longer before turning back to the stairs.

"Hn."

"Oh, '**HN**' yourself!" She threw her hands in the air and turned away. Heero was stunned (well, as stunned as Heero gets) then after a short while he regained his composure, and walked to his room. Usagi took a few steps away but was stopped by Duo, with Quatre and Trowa standing next to him.

"You don't know **how long** we've been waiting for someone to say that," Duo said, tears almost in his eyes. Quatre and Trowa were nodding. Even Wufei (who was currently standing in a corner but listening in on what they were saying) nodded.

"Well, he has to learn to **talk** at some point." She tapped her foot irritably.

_Well there you go Usagi, add 'irritated' to your list of emotions for the past half hour._

Usagi went to the lounge room and sat down on the nearest sofa. She had no idea why she was so moody all of a sudden. Maybe it was because of the little 'lap incident' with Heero. Or maybe it was because after tomorrow, school would start. Maybe it was the duel. She wasn't sure.

But **something was bothering her.**

Everyone was standing around the large training hall, waiting for the two katana-wielding maniacs to arrive. Most of the spectators came willingly. (Heero had to be dragged in by Duo and Minako and placed next to Usagi.)

Makoto was standing near Trowa, trying to make conversation. She was blushing heavily. Minako on the other hand, was far from bashful as she and Duo conversed (a little too loudly) about getting Rei and Wufei and Usagi and Heero together. Usagi had a slight flush across her face and Heero looked bored.

Quatre and Ami were talking worriedly about the health and safety risks of the upcoming duel and discussing what would be the most efficient method of moving them from the hall to the sick bay in the boarding house (Which was just a few couches at the back of the lounge room with a first aid box next to them.) 

All discussions halted as the door slid open. Rei entered softly, robes similar to that which she wore as a priestess hung gracefully off her. She carried her katana lightly in her hands, the silk matching the brilliant white of her robes. Her eyes were closed as she walked in to the centre of the room and sat down, laying her katana in front of her. She put her hands in her lap and waited calmly for her opponent.

**Everyone waited calmly for her opponent.**

Painful minutes past **extremely slowly.**

 …Minako was the first to break.

"Where the **heck is Wufei?!" She yelled as she looked at the faces in the room, somehow believing that they knew the answer. Duo joined Minako in her yelling.**

"Yeah! Wu-man's never late! What could be holding him up?!" Duo put a frown on his face as he tried to think up some reasons. Minako gasped and began to bite her fingernails.

"What if a crocodile got loose from the zoo and **ate him on his way here?!" She yelped. Duo looked panicked.**

"O--or what if he was abducted by the government?!" Duo suggested, looking suspiciously around the room, thinking he would find government spies.

"Maybe he fell into a sewer and can't get out!!"

"Maybe he was sucked into a spaceship and is having weird experiments performed on him!!"

"Or **maybe--" Minako began.**

"--he's walking through the door," Duo finished for her, looking obviously relieved that his maniac friend was safe.

"8:17 by my watch," Ami said quietly.

"What took you so long Wufei? All of us were worried," Quatre asked shyly, not wanting to make eye contact due to the menacing look in his friend's eyes.

"I—got… lost."

Duo burst and laughing as he pointed to Wufei and said, "You've been at this school for more than **three years and you got ****lost!?" Another round of laughter emitted from Duo.**

"Argh!! Maxwell!! I'll get yo--!!" He almost leapt after his idiot of a friend before Rei stood and held out her hand to stop him.

"We have previous plans. I wish for this to be complete before 9 o'clock, so you cannot waste time chasing your friend," She walked to one end of the hall, stopping about three metres from the end then turning around and unwrapping her katana. "The rules of this match will be…" She looked expectantly at Wufei.

"We will be fighting reverse-edge, so any damage taken will not be severe. Bare handed blows are accepted. The duel is over when one person has another pinned (either on the ground or against the wall without a sword) and is in a position to kill, they will then flip their blade over, and the duel will end."

"That is acceptable," Rei said as she let the silk and rope fall to the floor. Before unsheathing her sword she performed a soft bow. (Her grandfather had taught her that in a duel, even if you hate the person you are fighting, you must show respect to them and their sword before you begin.) Wufei gave a curt nod of his head.

((AN: I've never written a fighting scene before so you'll have to forgive me if it's terrible beyond belief. Oh, and BTW, strange anime gravity allowing people to jump really high applies.))

He moved his feet apart and stood ready, his sheath out in front of him and his hand ready to draw his sword. Rei moved the silk out of the way with her foot then moved her feet apart a short distance. Her sheath was held steady behind and her hand was on her katana's handle. They locked eyes and stared for a few seconds, then suddenly and simultaneously drew their swords and leapt into the middle of the room. Rei threw her sheath away and Usagi caught it clumsily.

They thundered down to the ground, the clash of metal ringing loudly around the room as each of them flowed gracefully through their movements. Switching between offensive and defensive movements they moved back and forth and around the room as they ducked and jabbed and blocked with their swords.

Usagi looked at them in awe. They seemed to be dancing while they fought. They didn't stomp about the room violently; they moved their feet in soft patterns.

Wufei looked much more masculine about the way he fought; his movements were graceful but precise, whilst Rei seemed to blend in each of her movements in one, single, ongoing attack. She looked beautiful, just like a priestess should, as she fought him.

Usagi looked closely at them. They seemed to have fallen into a pattern. 

Rei would execute a series of attacks, and Wufei would block each of them the same every time. Rei would then attack again, leaving herself slightly open for one attack. Wufei would jab as soon as he saw an opening and Rei would hit his sword away. This cycled about four times before Usagi realized what Rei was doing.

Wufei was more attuned to the offensive means of his sword, meaning that he would take any opportunity for an attack. It also meant that he was soft on defense, so Rei was wearing him down slowly. And at the end of the cycle, when Rei left herself open, there was only one strike that would give Wufei a chance to hit her, this strike however, left his hand in a weak position, so when Rei attacked his sword, she was hoping to knock it completely out of his hand.

She went back to concentrating to their duel. Rei seemed to have extended the period of which she attacked, hoping to weaken him even more before she tried to knock his sword out of the way. She continued her attacks for another minute before she let herself open. Wufei struck out at her and Rei (with a slight yell) knocked the katana out of his hand, sending it swirling across the floor. His eyes widened as he realized that he had been tricked. Rei jumped high into the air, preparing to pin him down and win the match. Wufei jumped backwards then purposefully fell to the floor, rolling backwards. As soon as he felt his sword underneath him, he sprung back up into a standing position, sword in hand.

Rei frowned angrily then pounced at him, unleashing an astonishing flurry of attacks that hit from the knee up with the dull edge of her blade. 

Wufei tried to block as many attacks as he could but they were far too fast, they weren't painful on their own, but repeatedly and in the same spots they became exceeding powerful blows that couldn't be blocked effectively. But he knew that she wouldn't be able hold her pace for so long.

Rei knew this also. Her swift method of attack was effective but it was tiring. She knew not to tire herself out too early, so she hit him a few more times around the head and shoulder area (getting his sword into a high and defensive position that was out of the way for her next attack) before quickly gliding to her left and sending an extremely powerful round-house kick that knocked him over. She pounced onto him, kneeling on top of him so one leg was either side, then planted her hand forcefully on his chest, pinning him down. Her other hand was in the hair, holding her sword a few inches from his face. They were both panting heavily, and he stared hatefully into her determined eyes.

She flipped her blade over.

Rei closed her eyes as she stood and walked over to Usagi, retrieving her sheath. She opened them as the blade slid back inside its wooden casing. She moved over to the silk lying on the floor and wrapped her katana delicately, handling it as if it were fragile china and not a dangerous weapon. She sat down and lay her sword across her lap, obviously thinking hard about something. She didn't realize when all her friends and neighbors walked out.

Ami watched as Rei unleashed a speedy and furious attack of multiple jabs. She never knew that Rei could handle a sword, let alone that **well. She could see that Wufei was much stronger than Rei herself, but Rei's determination, speed and strategy was enough to tip the scales in her favor.**

However, she had to tire at some point. Ami noticed that when she began this style of attack she has averaging 19 to 20 jabs per every six seconds. Now she was only doing 17 to 18. She was also breathing slightly faster. Suddenly she moved to the side, swinging her leg around and knocking Wufei to the floor. She leaped amazingly high into the air, her sword above her head, preparing to win.

Time slowed as Ami watched the scene before her; Rei was quickly coming down on Wufei, her sword aimed at his face. Ami screamed out, and buried her face in the person standing next to her's chest. 

She began to sob and she didn't know why. They weren't going to kill each other, but something about what was happening made her want to scream for a stop and cry. She felt a hand go around her shoulders and someone pat her softly on the back. She looked up to see Quatre smiling at her.

"Don't worry, they're both fine."

She wiped tears out of her eyes and he lead her out of the hall and back into the boarding house.

Wufei stayed on the floor. He stared up at the roof in silence. He soon heard the sound of quiet footsteps leaving the hall, the sounds of one person sniffing and sobbing accompanying it.

He blinked back tears of bitterness, defeat and hatred.

He felt so weak. He had been defeated so easily…

Closing his eyes he tried to establish just **why he could be defeated with such ease. He suddenly felt a presence next to him.**

"You do know **why I beat you, don't you?"**

He didn't answer her question, just waited for the answer.

"It's not just because of over-confidence, and it's not because I'm stronger than you, because I'm not."

He was waiting eagerly for what she was about to say but made himself look like he was ignoring her.

"It's partly because I'm faster than you. But the real reason it your attitude of how you treat your opponent, your sword and the people around you."

He waited for her to continue.

"You don't think that they are able to surprise you. You don't believe in anything except yourself. You don't believe in the people around you, you don't believe in your sword, and, (in this case) you didn't believe in your opponent. Also, you only had belief in your victory, but not how you would achieve that. You can have a Start, but you can't have the Finish if you don't have the Middle."

He heard her walk over to the door then stop.

"If you would like, I could teach you how to become quicker and achieve a better attitude by training and contacting fighting spirits. In return, you could teach me to become stronger. I will be awake in by room chanting until 10 o'clock. If you accept, just come and see me."

She exited the room and shut the door, leaving a very defeated and confused Wufei behind her.

*******End chapter 4

So… um, yeah. That's my fighting scene. Was it bad? Good? Should it be saved onto floppy disk then thrown onto open flames? Tell me!!

Won't have the next chapter out for a week or so because I'm going away and can't bring my laptop. Oh well, I'll make some notes and get it up ASAP.

~Jemjols.


	5. When they get to know each other

……………………… 

………*sigh* Sorry for not getting the chapter out quickly.

I am going through a small bout of depression at the moment.

Why, you ask?

I'll tell you why.

I just finished Final Fantasy VIII, after playing well over 100 hours of it (to some people, that's nothing, but I consider it an achievement) and now…

… well, what do I do now?

The dream's over. 

I mean, I've got Final Fantasy X at my other house, but I won't be there until the end of the week.

………………

 I sat for twenty minutes after "The End" came up, hoping something else would happen. 

………………

…Obsessive, you say?

Yes! I am!……… *sigh*

*ahem* **Anyway…** It was pointed out in a review that I made Wufei an idiot. It was intentional but not in that way… it's kinda hard to explain. Wufei isn't **actually** an idiot it just that… hmm. Well, you'll see. I've had this chapter planned out for a while so there'll be some stuff……… I'm sorry. My brain hurts. And I'm so depressed……… damn you Final Fantasy VIII and your addictive-ness!!

(My mum (Yes, M-U-M. That's how we spell it in **Australia****.** Land of the skips.) said that I was starting to show aggressive tendencies due to my excessive game-playing. (I play **at least** 5 games at any one time. My mum believes that this is strange whereas I believe it to be completely normal.) She said that if it continued she would have to ban me… Well, she can't **ground** me because I've grounded myself. In a way.)

Disclaimer: I don't own SM or GW. But in an alternate universe I do…………… I'm serious.

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Five: Once they get to know each other…**

Rei briefly looked over at her alarm clock. 

Lime green digits that read '9:48' stared at her.

She sighed.

She didn't feel accomplished. She didn't want to gloat. She didn't feel victorious…But she had **won.**

_Argh__! This is so infuriating! _

She wasn't quite sure whether that was because she didn't feel as if she had won or if Wufei only had 12… no, now **11** more minutes to show up.

She **needed** him to show up so that she **knew** she had won. She didn't know why she was in doubt but somehow found herself there. 

_Is it possible to defeat an opponent yet still lose?_

She stewed on the thought for a little while.

No. It wasn't. She had defeated him, fair and square.  
  


_And he deserved it too! He's a sexist, chauvinistic, ignorant **idiot** of a boy and he needed to be put in his place!_

Her mind raged furiously. Soon she felt better and she looked over to her alarm clock with renewed confidence. '9:57' greeted her unemotionally. She stood up and brushed the small fibers from the carpet off her robes.

Her door then opened in a controlled but loud manner. The reason for her previous mental turmoil the one who opened it. He took two steps into her room (completely uninvited!) and glared death at her.

"Onna, what you did was undignified and **weak. You had me fooled that you were worthy of victory," Wufei said tonelessly. Rei could feel her anger literally boiling at the pit of her stomach. "You are a priestess and a guardian of your temple. You talk to the spirits. These things require great strength and stamina. And yet, ****onna, you are one of the weakest people I have met," he stated matter-of-factly.**

"And why is that?" She asked, as calmly as she could… through gritted teeth.

"You used the spirits to empower yourself."

Rei crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. Plainly asking 'why is **that such a terrible thing?'**

"You obviously know how the spirits work, onna, otherwise they would not have aided you. But I'm not sure if you do or don't know that when **fighting** spirits empower you, they are actually stolen from another, living, person. More often than not the closest." His voice was becoming angrier.

Her eyes widened slightly. She hadn't ever delved into the world of fighting spirits before… but she had just assumed that it would be just as simple! Spirits weren't of this world they were of the next! 

_But it **is** possible for spirits to exist in a body of this world_…

 Her thoughts were broken as the Chinese boy pointed an accusing finger at her.

"**Woman**! You stole from me and you insulted me, and there must be repayment!" His eye seemed to flame and bore holes into her own, but she tossed her head nonchalantly and stared defiantly back.

"What kind of repayment?" She asked in a clipped tone.

"Another match. One week from now, with**out** spectators. Come as you are, and without the spirit of others, onna." His accusing finger dropped and he turned and walked towards the door. Before he stepped out into the corridor, he turned and looked at her. "And your repayment for your **dishonorable insults will come in time, weakling."**

"I did **not** insult you, you idiot fool!" He flinched and marched right up to her, staring down at her with flaming eyes. 

Rei aggressively fought the urge to shrink away.

"It is taught in the teachings of martial arts to believe in the abilities of yourself, your opponent and your weapon, onna, or you will surely fail. You, a dishonorable **woman of all people, stole from me and insulted me after you defeated me with my own strength. Woman, that will not go unpunished."**

Rei narrowed her eyes and tried to stand at her full height.

"I accept your challenge… But I warn you, chauvinist, you will still lose to me." He glowered at her, then left the room.

_So it is possible to lose and win at the same time…_

Quatre walked a snuffling Ami to her door. She laughed a soft, strained chuckled and stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry. I'm just acting silly… don't mind me," she tried as hard as she could to smile, but failed miserably, ending up looking like she was about to cry.

"I don't think you're OK. Ami, what exactly is making you upset?" Quatre asked gently.

"I'm not so sure. I've been thinking about it, and, maybe…" She trailed off uncertainly. He waited patiently for her to put her thoughts into words. "I… I think it was because I was seeing a different side of Rei. Usagi and Rei have a lot of fights, but they're all in jest… this time… this time Rei was in a **real** fight, and I saw a graceful but violent side of her. I suppose we all have a side of ourselves like that… but… it was just a bit scary at first when I **actually** witnessed it."

"I see," Quatre said, giving an understanding nod. Ami smiled. "Do you want to talk about it or do you want to go to sleep?" He asked.

"I… I'm not sure. I think that maybe I should get some rest... But thank you anyway for putting up with my sniffling."

"Oh, no, It wasn't any--… I mean, um, you're welcome," he said, smiling unsurely, not really knowing if what he said was a polite answer or not.

They both stood in the corridor for a few seconds longer. Quatre looked at his hands and began to fidget and Ami looked off to her left briefly. She then clasped her hands in front of her and began to toy with her fingers uneasily.

A few more endless moments passed until she decided on what to say. She looked up and was surprised and the blonde in front of her did exactly the same.

"W-well, I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow, Quatre…!" She chirped. The slight flush that crept across his face seemed to be infectious, as she could feel her own cheeks heating up. Why? She wasn't really sure.

"Y-yes. I guess I'll see you then."

The both stared at each other then looked at their still fidgeting hands. A few minutes passed.

"So… I guess… um, goodnight, then," Quatre said with a crooked smile.

"Oh, yes, g-goodnight. Sorry. I'll see you in the morning." She speed into her room in less than a second, leaving a still (slightly blushing) Quatre to walk into his own room, very confused and very flustered.

"Man, that was COOL!" Minako yelled as she ran into the Lounge room and pounced onto a nearby couch. She snatched the VCR remote ((AN: I hate remotes. They so convenient yet you need to have something like SIX of them so you don't actually have to leave the couch)) from the floor and began to jab at the air with it, imagining it to be sword.

"I KNOW! They were so COOL!" Duo ran to the television and grabbed the remote from on top of it, swiveling around and pointing it at Minako. "They were like THIS and THIS and THIS!" He screeched excitedly, striking a pose with each 'this.'

"Yeah! And then they were like THAT and THAT and THAT!" Minako squealed, jabbing at Duo with each 'that.'

"Hey, you nearly hit me!" Duo squeaked as he bounced behind a sofa.

"I was **trying to hit you! I'm ****winning!" Minako said heatedly as she jumped onto the sofa Duo was hiding behind, proceeding to lean over the back and jab at the braided boy who was vainly trying to block her. He jabbed at her hand (temporarily disabling her) then sprung up and leaped over the back of the chair and knocked away her weapon.**

"Ha ha HA! Super Duo has emerged VICTORIUS once again! He has beaten the evil Empress Minako in savage remote warfare! Mwa ha ha!"

Minako narrowed her eyes and pounced at him, snatching his remote out of his hands.

"But the Empress Minako (who isn't actually evil but was just possessed by Duo's evil and oversized ego) makes a come-back! She has stolen Duo's—"

"SUPER Duo's…"

"—SUPER Duo's weapon, thus making him… um, turn into…um… HEERO! HA HA HA !"  Minako cackled at her insane genius. Duo screwed up his nose.

"How am I meant to be Heero?"

"I dunno HOW. You're his friend right?" Minako asked, whacking him on the head with the TV remote. Duo seemed immune to the pain.

"I'm not sure…" He frowned. "I guess so. Although he **does** throw death-threats at me…But not as much as Wufei does, though." Duo looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'd say about half as much. But that's not including Wufei chasing be with his katana."

"Fair enough." Minako jumped down from the sofa then clapped her hands together. "I'm hungry! Let's go make something! Ooh! I know how to make **the best** thing in the **world** next to choc-strawberry milkshakes! Follow me!" Minako sprinted into the kitchen and began to empty the fridge, freezer and cupboard of all their contents.

"That went quickly, didn't it? I didn't really expect Rei to lose, but I didn't expect her to win so rapidly," Makoto said as she walked into the backyard next to Trowa.

"It did go fast. I have never seen Wufei in such bad form," Trowa said briefly, almost to himself.

"What do you mean?" The tall boy turned around and looked at her, seemingly only realizing she was there for the first time.

"Wufei is a great swordsman. He looked like a novice in there. Your friend is good, but there is something wrong with Wufei, he could not possibly have fought so badly, otherwise."

They both walked in silence through the back garden until they reached the back door of the boarding house. Trowa got to the door first and opened it for her. Makoto uttered an embarrassed 'Thankyou'while her thoughts blushed.

Oooh! He's so gentlemanly! He's like my old boyfriend Yuusuke! Aaah… 

Makoto floated inside, an indifferent Trowa following her and closing the door behind him.

Usagi frowned as she brushed her teeth. She still couldn't work out why she had a bad feeling. It was gone now, but why it was there in the first place baffled her. She'd decided it was something about the duel, but she didn't know enough about swordfights or swords or **anything** in that category, so she wouldn't be able to see if there was anything wrong when Rei and Wufei had fought.

She spat out the froth in her mouth inelegantly and gargled water in frustration. She hated being confused; it made her so angry. (Which, she supposed, was why she was so angry most of the time)

She snatched her toothbrush and toothpaste and put them in her pocket, pulling out her hairbrush in the same movement. She brushed her knee-length hair ((AN: Have a good look at a pic of SM. It really is **that** long. lol)) as quick as was possible and deftly pulled each pigtail into a bun at the top of her head, securing them with pins and allowing long streamers of hair to hang down in her normal hairstyle

She exited the bathroom and began to make her way to her room when she noticed that Rei's door was open and loud voices were drifting out of it. Her curiosity got the better of her, so she crouched down and put her head near the door.

"**Woman**! You stole from me and you insulted me, and there must be repayment!" That was obviously Wufei.

"What kind of repayment?" That sounded like Rei with a failing hold on her anger.

"Another match. One week from now, with**out** spectators. Come as you are, and without the spirit of others, onna." There was a small silence before he continued. "And your repayment for your dishonorable insults will come in time, weakling."

"I did **not** insult you, you idiot fool!" Rei's hold on her anger was evidently beginning to fail. 

Wufei then rambled about teachings of martial arts (Which Usagi only paid half a mind to) and finished icily with, "That will not go unpunished."

"I accept your challenge. But I warn you, chauvinist, you will still lose to me."

Usagi wanted to shiver as she heard Rei's voice. She had heard many emotions in preistess' voice (mainly anger, frustration and all out rage) but she had never heard cold contempt. It didn't suit her.

Is this the other side of Rei I'm hearing? The one who wields a sword? Is this how she's always been? Is this who she will become? 

Usagi became insanely worried. She then shook her head.

_No. It's nothing. I'm over-reacting._

Wufei stormed out of Rei's room and gave Usagi the fright of her life. She clapped her hand silently over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. He was grumbling under his breath as he marched over to his room and aggressively kicked open his door. She waited in silence until Rei closed her door (Correction – **slammed** her door shut) and walked towards her own room, her thoughts stewing on the events she had just listened to. She walked passed Heero's door then stopped and backtracked until she was facing it.

 She knocked three times. And got no answer, as per usual. She knocked another three times.

She gave up any hope that he would just be polite and continued to knock without stopping. After a while, the door opened swiftly.

"What?" Was his rather impatient and annoyed greeting.

"Hey, I was wondering… have you figured how I can repay you yet?"

Hey rolled his eyes and glared in response.

"So I guess that's a Heero 'no,' then?" She invited herself in and bounced over to his laptop and plonked herself down in his chair. "Well then I have another favor to ask, if it's not too much trouble…"

"No," he said bluntly as he walked behind her, put his hands under her arms, lifted her off his chair and onto to floor. He sat back down in front of his laptop and began to ignore her while he typed.

"Hey!" Usagi's shocked and delayed yelp came from the floor. After getting no response, her eyes narrowed. She looked around his room and… well, didn't see much, really. Despite the fact that it was dark, he had barely any belongings. "You know, you really should have more light in here. You'll ruin your eyes."

She walked over to his desk-lamp and switched it on.

"There, much better. Now you can **see** around you," she chirped. _Not that there's much to see._ She added at the back of her head. "Anyway, about that favor… I was wondering if you knew anything or could find out anything about spirits, and in particular how they could aid a swordfight…or ruin it. Oh, I mean spirits as in ghosty things not achoh—"

"I know what you meant."

"OK, OK, no need to get snippy," she said, waving a finger.

"Hn."

"You know, you should stop this whole 'hn' thing. I'm beginning to wonder if you actually know how talk."

She could just **tell he was restraining himself from grunting another 'hn.'**

"Ok, let's see. Ooh! I have an idea. It's a game. It's to see if you actually know any other words apart from 'no' or 'hn,' OK?" She waited for a response but didn't get one, as she expected. "I'll use your dictionary, open it to a random page, and read out the meaning of a word, and if you know the word, you say it? OK? OK. First word…" She stole the dictionary from on top of his desk and flipped it open. "It's a musical adverb and adjective that means 'with a gradual decrease in speed.'" She looked up from the book and stared at the back of his head. She frowned and moved to his side so that she could see his face. "There's no shame in admitting you don't know what it means," she baited.

"Rallentando," he grunted.

"Correct," she said happily. "OK, next one… It's a noun which means 'the space in an infant's skull, which later closes up.'"

"Fontanelle."

"Correct. Next one is another noun.  It means 'surgical experimentation on living animals for scientific research."

"Vivisection."

"Noun. Means 'sleepwalking.'"

"Somnambulism."

"Argh. OK, next one. Noun. 'Plant or micro-organism living on dead organic matter."

"Saprophyte."

"Adjective. 'Of or containing calcium carbonate.'"

"Calcareous."

"Noun. 'One-humped camel bred for riding.'" 

"Dromedary."

"AHH!" She threw the dictionary to the ground. "What, have you **memorized this or something?!"**

"Correct."

Her eyes narrowed (again) in another glare. He wasn't… He was!!

"I **can** see that smirk, **Heero**."

The tiny smile dropped as quickly as it had appeared. She frowned. He looked like a **human when he smiled.**

_Oh well, easy come, easy go._

He clicked something on the laptop and leaned back in his chair. His printer started to make noises as ot began to print a document. She continued to frown as he collected a stapler from his top desk drawer and stapled the pages he had just printed.

"Here," he said, handing it to her.

"Wha…?" Usagi looked down at the sheets of paper in her hand and flipped through them quickly. _It's all info on spirits…_ "Th-thanks…" _Come to think of it, he was typing this whole time… _She grinned and looked up at him from the small booklet in her hands. "Well, I guess I owe you two favors, then. G'night, Heero! Thankyou!" She walked out of his room and closed the door behind her.

_I can't believe he got **all this** stuff in that short a time… wow. _

Usagi flipped through the book, briefly reading some paragraphs that caught her eye.

_OK. I get it know. So Rei chanted to the fighting spirits and they empowered her with Wufei's fighting ability and spirit… so **that was what he meant by the whole 'stealing' accusation…**_

"Oh Usaaaa…"

Her head snapped up from the booklet to see Minako and Duo, both staring at her with conviction and both holding large bowls filled with bananas, strawberries, ice-cream, chocolate sauce, nuts and whipped cream.

_Ah. 'Minako's special.'_

"Wh… what?" Usagi asked carefully, not liking the look of glee that was creeping over Minako's face.

"Oooh! She just came out of **Heero's **room!" Duo began to bounce up and down excitedly.

"Aw, they were being all romantic! How cute!" Minako looked over at the bouncing Duo. "Hey stop that! You'll spill my Special everywhere!" She looked back to Usagi and grinned. "Don't mind us, Usa. You can go back in Heero's room…"

"Ha ha! Usagi and Heero sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes the—" Duo began to sing.

"Oh, yes of course. I've known him for like a **day** and I'm already **madly **in love and about to marry him and kiss him in a tree. Sounds great. And logical." Usagi rolled her eyes and went into her room, but could still hear Minako and Duo's conversation through her door.

"Oh my gosh! They're madly in love!" Minako squealed.

"And they're going to kiss in a tree!"

"And get married!"

"Don't you think they're rushing things a bit?"

"Maybe. But love knows no bounds, you know?"

"You don suppose she was joking?"

"Couldn't be… well, maybe. That makes more sense."

"But love makes you do crazy things."

"That's true. So when do you think they'll get married?"

"Well, after they get to know each other, I'm sure they'll set a date."

Usagi sighed from her place in her room and shook her head.

_I have to **live **with these two?_

*******End chapter 5

Yeah… um. Hm.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I did! I got some REALLY cool stuff! (Eg; Ranma 1/2 manga volumes 3 to 12, End of Evangelion on DVD, Neverwinter Nights, Kingdom Hearts, Peach Girl 4, Utena book 2, a stereo, etc.! YAY!)

As this chapter was written over a few days, I'm no longer depressed over finishing FF8, however I am now depressed 'cause I watched End of Eva…

Oh well.  I know that a whole lot didn't happen, but I had to get the whole Wufei-not-being-stupid thing before people started to think I'm a Wufei hater. He's my least favourite of the 5 G-Boys, but I don't hate him. 

Anyway, I must fly… *cough*to my PS2*cough*

Lots o' luv,

Jemjols ^_^ 

(Please leave a review :D)

PS: Doesn't Quatre remind you of Miki from Utena? I was reading Utena over the weekend and I was **astounded at how similar they look and act! Agree? Don't agree?**


	6. Kiss Me Before you Leave

Hello again!

I'm almost done focusing on Rei/Wuffie, so I can get back to Heero and Usagi like you all want me to. (*The author fails to point out that it is also want SHE wants to do, oh wait a sec, she just did….heh.)

Oh, before I forget, Rei **accidentally stole Wufei's fighting spirit. (That was just if you were unsure or something.)**

…I don't really have anything else to say about the fic at the moment.

**BUT, I'll just tell all of you, we recently got a ride-on mower (Weeeeee!!!) and I had the best workday of my ****life up at our farm yesterday. (And I did a real kick-ass job, to boot!)**

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Six: Kiss Me Before you Leave**

His eyes glided open. He looked over to his window and then to his clock.

It was night and it was 1:34am. He briefly wondered what had woken him up and such an ungodly hour of the night before a soft sound reached his ears. He didn't know what it was at first.

Last time he'd woken up in the middle of the night was when Duo had been talking, no, **yelling in his sleep. Everyone in the house (including himself) had went to see what was happening. Quatre had been worried that he was having an awful nightmare, but that thought was gone as they all walked into the room to see Duo with his usual idiot grin on his face. It was then discovered that he wasn't actually ****yelling, he was talking as he normally would, it was simply because everything ****else was quiet. He remembered that he had punched mildly on the side of the head, which was then followed up by ten or so consecutive whacks of Wufei's katana.**

Duo, however, simply rolled onto his side and continued to talk. After much debate, it was decided that simply gagging him would solve the problem until a more convenient point in time (Quatre had too be taken out of the room because he believed it to be "too cruel").

But that was beside the point. A noise had woken him up in the middle of the night and he **knew that he would not be able to return to semi-peaceful slumber until it had been quieted.**

It sounded like laughing… no, choking… no…

_…I haven't heard the sound of crying in a **long time…**_

He then wondered where it was coming from. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his bare chest.

It wasn't Duo… Wufei and Trowa don't cry... It wasn't coming from the end of the hall, so it certainly wasn't Quatre, the black haired girl, the tall girl or the short haired one…It wasn't coming from the other side of the hall.

…It was coming from room 2. It was Usagi.

He mentally hit himself in the head. _OK, so what now?_

He most certainly wasn't going to go **over there. He just didn't ****do sympathy. Or pity. Or friendship. Or…**

Well, he just didn't do normal. She'd just have to hope someone else would hear her and come.

He lay back down and tried to block the sound out of his ears. And, for the first fifteen seconds or so, it worked. But the soft sound eventually made it to his ears like some sort of extremely annoying bee that wouldn't go away unless it was taken care of.

With a sort of growl he swung himself out of his bed, hastily put on a pair of shorts to cover his boxers (said shorts later turned out to be his long gym shorts, but he didn't care anyhow), put on the first shirt he could get his hands on (he was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be his favourite green tank top) and then made his way over to Usagi's room.

He knocked softly on her door.

…And got slightly annoyed when he got no answer.

_Hn. So this is what it feels like._

He opened the door slowly and stepped inside stealthily. (He could almost hear Quatre ranting inside his head about privacy but paid it no mind.) He stepped inside and closed the door behind himself.

He looked at the sobbing girl in front of him; she was lying on her side, facing towards him, and bear-hugging her doona to death in an attempt to find emotional support. Tears were running down her smooth, pale cheeks and by the sound of the slow rhythm of her breathing; she was asleep.

_Good. Now there'll be no need for explanations._

Her sobbing became louder and she began to mumble into her doona. She began to shake as more tears began to leak out of her eyes.

_Oh great._

"Hey," he grunted softly (but still managing to be forceful.) She seemed to have heard, even in her dreams, and she separated from the doona just enough for him to here her desperate whispers.

"No Mamo-chan…! Please don't leave me…! I'm…I'm sorry…! I'll become mature for you…! Just… don't leave me!!" She finished in a yell and reached out, grabbing him around the waist, burying her tear-streaked face in his stomach and crying even louder.

_OK... Another problem. Alright, options… 1: Pull her off forcibly, then explain the situation if she wakes up. 2:Try to pry her off me without waking her. 3: Wait until she lets go. _

Scratch number 1 and 2, there was no way he was going to risk waking her. He was **not in a great hurry to explain to the irrational brat why he was in there. He was ****not going to explain himself, even if it meant…**

_How long is she going to hold onto me??_

"I love you…!"

He almost gagged. He had to find a way to get out of her room **fast**.

_Who **is she dreaming about? Wait… she said something about a 'Mamo-chan' before.**_

"Just stay with me…! Just… don't leave…"

_I'm not going anywhere while you're clinging to me._

She began to cry even harder at the thought of the 'Mamo-chan' person leaving her.

_OK. I can not go to sleep unless I shut her up. Obviously hitting her senseless like we did to Duo wouldn't help. Hm…What would Quatre do…?_

He looked at the girl clinging at his waist and gritted his teeth as the answer popped into his mind. His teeth began to grind together as he forced his angrily shaking arms loosely around her.

_Why is she **still crying? Hugs or whatever make people feel happy, right? …OK, what would Quatre say…?**_

"I-… it's OK…"

He wanted to hit himself. He **had **to get out of there before other residents heard and rushed in. His only re-assurance was that if he got out quickly, no one would **ever know. (And if anyone ****did find out, they would be taken care of.)**

"…I love you…"

He rolled his eyes at the amount of romantic drivel she was spouting to the 'Mamo-chan' person in her dreams.  Well, at least she was claming down, and that meant she would go back to sleep (quietly) and he would be free of her grasp and would also be able to return to the peaceful void of sleep.

The clinging blonde brought herself up to her knees drowsily and hugged him with what very well could have been all her might. He could feel sweat forming on his brow. Keeping still made you surprisingly tense… especially when you had an extremely annoying female clinging to you.

"…Kiss me before you go away…"

He choked on the small amounts of air he was inhaling. She lifted her head up from his chest (which it had currently been resting on after she had moved from his stomach) and kissed him on the shoulder. He supposed she was kissing 'Mamo-chan' in her dreams.

_Get off me now. Go. To. Sleep._

He hissed relief as she let go and floated back to her pillows and sheets.

_Good. Now I can go back to my room, cut off my left shoulder, and go back to sleep._

"Welcome, Year 10, to your first day of school. We are well aware that most of you came from Juuban High, and in light of that, we are going to play a game," said their principle, Mr. Okimura. There was minimal excited clapping and quite a few groans. "You teachers have created these slips of paper where you fill out your hobbies, interests, pets, etc. You will complete the slips then fold them and put them into this basket over here. You will each then take another slip then go around asking questions, and once you find the person on your sheet you fill in their name. This exercise is for you all to get to know each other before we begin classes." Everyone seated in front of the well-fed man stared at him with blank disappointment. "I'm very sorry for the informality of this, Year 10, but we have formal assemblies every week on Wednesday Afternoons, so we'll have to wait for formal introductions then, won't we?"

Blank stares.

"OK, well, I must go meet the Year 9s. Farewell." He hurried out of the room. As soon as he left, the entire year level began to babble. Mostly it was about the 'exciting' game they were about to play, but it was also general introductions and hellos, and the odd conversation about what one did on the weekend.

"Hey, Usagi, this sounds like fun, doesn't it?" Minako said excitedly. "Ooh! I hope I get a really cute guy!"

"Ugh, you'll never change Mina!" Usagi said loudly over the rumble of students. "But that's why I like you!" she said with a big grin on her face. Minako beamed happily at the compliment.

"Year 10!" Mrs. Kawashima yelled, clapping her hands to silence the students. "Ms. Minaguchi and Ms. Katsuki are handing out your slips. You'll have 10 minutes to fill them out, so be quick!"

The two teachers efficiently bustled through the mass of children sitting on the polished wood floor of the hall and handed out the small pieces of paper as all the students took pencils out of their pencils cases (which they had been told to bring earlier) and began to fill out their slips.

Usagi looked down at hers. The first line to fill out was…

'My favourite food is…'

_Heh. Easy. Cake and ice-cream._

She hastily scrawled in her answer.

_OK. Next one._

'My favourite subject is…'

_Home Economics! Definitely!_

She then continued to make her way through the sheet. Realizing she had time leftover, she doodled on the page and then handed her slip in. After every slip had been handed in, Ms. Katsuki went around to every student with the basket, her long black ponytail swishing back and forth with each step. When Usagi's turn arrived, she picked out a piece laying dejectedly on the side of the basket and opened it.

There was nothing written on the paper. She was just about to put up her hand and complain until she noticed that one small thing had been written.

Next to 'What I dislike the most is…' were gracefully stony words that said; 'when people annoy me.'

_Heero._

It was something about the handwriting that made her instantly think that it was the grunting rock of a boy who was her neighbor. She stood on her tip-toes and tried to look over the heads of her peers to spot him.

No luck, of course. She was the shortest person she knew for her age.

But she was in luck; Makoto still hadn't begun to question people.

"Mako!" She said loudly over the rumble of students around her.

"Yes, Usa? What, did you get me?" Her tall friend asked.

"No, I think I got Heero. Can you see him?" Usagi asked hopefully. Makoto looked around the room quickly then looked back to her friend.

"Yes. Here's over there," She pointed over to the North wall of the Hall, "near the basketball hoop."

"Thanks Mako!" Usagi said cheerily as she dashed off towards the chocolate haired boy leaning against the wall. His eyes looked towards her briefly then returned to the mass of Year 10 children. "This is your slip, isn't it?" She asked as she reached him and held up the virtually empty piece of paper.

"Hn." He held up his piece. There was messy handwriting covering it and the occasional bunny rabbit. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew it was hers.

"Ah… well… OK. What do we do know?"

He gave the faintest of shrugs and dropped his arm holding the slip to his side. She shrugged then joined him in his leaning against the wall and clasped her hands behind her back. (Rei had once told her that that made her look like a child but she couldn't break herself out of the habit.)

She almost laughed. She felt so silly leaning against the wall in what must have looked like a brooding manner (despite the 'childish' way she held her arms) next to the stoic loner she'd come to live with. 

She also almost laughed because he looked so silly in his school uniform. She agreed that green was his colour, yes, but something about the way he wore the dark green slacks, pale green shirt, thin black tie and forest green coat that made him seem so… so…she couldn't put her finger on it. The colour suited him but the clothes just didn't. And something about that made him look… oh, she would ponder about it another time.

She looked down at her own uniform. Her dark green pleated skirt reached just above her knees, and her white knee-high socks reached just below, keeping her legs warm (which was a welcome change to the ankle socks back at Juuban High). She wasn't really a fan of the shiny black shoes, but she liked the fact that they had a slight heel, giving her **some** height. She also liked the short forest green jacket and pale green shirt, but the tie… ugh. She didn't like ties. Not on herself, anyway. Scarves and the like were fine but she definitely drew the line at ties. (Of course, the school dress code didn't give a flying fig about her line and insisted that she wear it, so she did.)

She then stopped thinking about her weekday outfit and turned her attention back to the pack of Year 10s swarming in the middle of the hall. Over all the babble she could hear two distinct voices yelling excitedly;

"Waah! Duo! I got YOU! Your favourite food's my Special?! That's so cool!" Minako yelled from one side of the pack to Duo on the other side.

"Hey! I got YOU, Minako! Is your favourite game REALLY Laser Fight now?! That's AWESOME!" Duo yelled back.

Usagi sighed and looked for her other friends. Her eyes caught a ponytail with two green bobbles holding it at the top of her head. Makoto was in the middle of the mix talking to Trowa. Trowa's mouth opened a few times, and she nodded for each time. Trowa then wrote on his slip, turned and walked away. Her pony tailed friend looked wistful for a moment before spinning around and picking some guy up by the collar of his shirt. When Usagi looked carefully, she could see Makoto's mouth saying 'pervert' and instantly felt sorry for the poor guy who had put the unwanted moves on Makoto.

She could also see Ami moving shyly around and asking people questions, and as eventually came to a tall redheaded boy. She talked to him for a bit, then smiled and wrote on her piece of paper. She moved over to Minako afterwards and began to converse with her. They both began to laugh as they continued to chatter.

Rei, however, seemed to have forgotten completely about her questioning task and was caught in a narrowed-eyed glaring competition with Wufei. Quatre passed by them and tried to get them to become civil to each other. His fond attempts failed and he walked off with an adorably disappointed face, which brightened as he bumped into Duo and began talking with him.

Usagi looked away from her friends and groaned as she noticed Mrs. Kawashima beginning to gather all the students around her.

_Great. Now it's time for **class**._

*******End chapter 6

I know, I know… short chapter. Had to get **something** out, though.

So, did everyone have a good New Year's? I did. It was cool. Most of my family went up to our farm and we all had heaps of fun. (And there was many a compliment about my exquisite mowing job.) It was also cool because by the end of the night all my uncles were drunk. :D They were running around for hours listening to Michael Jackson and yelling; "I'm bad!" "You're bad!" "You know it!" "I'm bad!" etc. Hehehehe… and I got it all on tape. They even tried to break dance. (Only one of my uncles can successfully though. We [we being myself and my cousins] tried to make him do his 'Electric Boogaloo 2' but one of my Aunties stopped us because last time he did he suffered severe spinal injury. Heh heh heh.)

BTW, I haven't played much Kingdom Hearts yet, unfortunately. I'm still on Final Fantasy 10. I'm at near the end in the airship but I think Sin (a.k.a. Evil-Goggly-Eyed-Slimy-Brownish-Whale-Man-Thing-Aeon-Jecht) is really weird looking so I'm avoiding him.

Anyhow, I'll make chapter seven REAL long to make up for the shortiness of this one. (I promise!)

~Jemjols :)


	7. Stories to Tell

Chapter seven, coming atcha!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon OR Gundam Wing. But I do own YOU. And quite possibly your cat, if you have one……No wait, just your cat.

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Warning: Maybe OOCness, I think it's justified, but you can make your own decision.

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Seven: Stories to tell**

"What have you got first, Usa?" Makoto asked, leaning over Usagi's shoulder to peer at her timetable.

"English. Great, my **least** favourite subject!" Usagi said dejectedly, staring at her sheet as if it were to blame. She sighed and began to gather her books out of her locker.

"Hey, don't worry, Usa, I've got English too!" Minako said excitedly.

"I thought you didn't like English, Minako," Usagi said, confused.

"Oh, I don't. But Duo told me that Mr. Sakamoto is the nicest and most laid-back of all the teachers here," Minako clapped her hands once then speedily extracted the necessary books from her looker before giving Usagi a sly look. "You don't want to be late for your first class, do you Usa? Better hurry!" Minako sped of, rustling papers along the floor with the quickness of her departure.

"Oh well, I've got Home Ec now so I'll see you at Lunch, Usa," Makoto said, walking away to her classroom as Usagi followed her energetic friend with less than half of her enthusiasm and rapidity.

"OK, so now that we've got introductions done, class, open up your workbooks to page 12." Mr. Sakamoto took his own version of the Workbook and opened it. His eyes widened as he looked at the page. "They… they changed it **again**?! I swear, this book is the bane of my life… **every** year I have to get a new copy of it! I have to re-learn where all the necessary exercises are, I have to memorize **all **of the…" He trailed off as he flipped through the book grumpily.

Minako risked a glance at Usagi and smirked. Usagi smiled quickly back.

"**OK** then, class, flip to page **47**…" He looked down at the page carefully. "**What?!** They have **worksheets** to go with one now?! Ugh… class, I apologize for my lack of organization. I will be back in a few minutes with your **worksheets. **Worksheets. I swear, they just make us purchase more and **more **every year…" Mr. Sakamoto muttered as he walked out of the classroom, continuing to mumble angrily to himself and he walked down the corridor to the teachers lounge.

"He always forgets things." She heard Duo say to her. He laughed. "But we don't say anything to all the other teachers 'cause it's so funny to watch him get angry at the texts." Usagi chuckled softly. Minako left her desk and walked over to Usagi's, joining the conversation.

"Mr. Yui over there doesn't seem to happy about it," Minako pointed out, glancing briefly to where the boy was sitting.

"Yeah, but he never seems happy about anything... Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen him smile…" Duo put his chin in his hand and thought hard on the topic.

"Oh well, his loss," Minako said, tossing the subject aside with a wave of her hand. "Hey Duo, what other teachers are there? Are they all like Mr. Sakamoto?"

"Nah… there all pretty strict. There's Mrs. Mitsuishi and Mr. Hisakawa teaching Maths, and believe me those two are **tough** if you don't know how to do something properly. But, they're nothing compared to…" Duo's voice dropped to a whisper as he shivered, "Ms. Tomizawa." He looked uneasily around him, as if 'Ms. Tomizawa' was hiding somewhere in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to eat his soul. 

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Minako asked curiously. Duo shivered again.

"…She teaches gym…" Duo answered softly.

"Gym?! My **favourite **subject is gym! Ms. **Tomizawa** couldn't **possibly** ruin it for **me**!" Minako said determinedly. Duo looked at her with horror.

"You have no idea… she has made **everyone **in this school cry, even some of the teachers… well, not everyone, there's still four people who haven't even squirted some tears yet…" Duo peered under his desk briefly; making sure the hellish Gym teacher wasn't there.

"Who are they?" Usagi asked softly, afraid to talk at full volume because of the mood Duo had created.

"Heero, Trowa, Wufei and me."

"Really? Well done, Duo!" Minako said, giving him a friendly pat on the back.

"Heh… it's not really as good as it would sound, though…" He said as he looked over his shoulder warily.

"Why not?" Minako squawked.

"Well, Tomizawa gets everyone one by one, by yelling at them, insulting them, making them do ten times as much work as everyone else, then ridiculing them when they get tired--"

"That doesn't sound **that** bad, though," Usagi interjected.

"Yeah, I know. That's what I thought at first. She gets the weakest ones first, knowing that just a little will get them bawling, then she moves onto the tougher ones. She'll do stuff like read out all your worst marks in tests and stuff in front of the entire class while you do lap after lap of the basketball court. Or she'll make you run for ten minutes on hot concrete, on a boiling day, completely **barefoot**. Or--"

"Yeah, yeah, we get the picture, she's a she-demon from hell, move on…" Minako said as she made circular gestures with her hands.

"Yeah, well, she hasn't made Trowa or Heero cry for obvious reasons; they just **can't**. And, of course, those guys can take her physical torture without a word and **never** get tired. Wufei doesn't do gym anymore after he got all riled up and had a screaming competition with her, ending up challenging her to a duel. Heh, it was funny, 'cause the principle had to give a school address on how 'violence doesn't solve things' and swords outside of the training hall wasn't accepted. So, that was how Wu-man got out of it," Duo said, laughing as he remembered Wufei's actions.

"Yeah, and what about you?" Minako pressed, poking him in the shoulder for good measure.

"Ah, me?" Duo blinked, then continued quietly. "Well, she **focuses on me now. I don't think anyone else actually **does** anything in gym anymore. They just walk in, sit down and watch me as Tomizawa makes me run around climb ropes, oh, and once she made us play dodge ball. It wouldn't have been bad to play dodge ball, except I was the only person on my team and we had 'accidentally' lots most of the squishy balls, so she made everyone use **basketballs** instead. Basketballs. I swear, I got so many hits to the groin I thought--"**

"OK, OK, stop there. No more details on **that** subject **please," Minako yelled, waving her arms in the air.**

"Yeah, well, just be prepared," Duo said warningly, before twisting his head to look at Heero. "Hey, Heero, tell Mina and Usagi how bad Tomizawa is."

"Hn."

Duo turned back to face the two blondes with a grin. "See, even he agrees." 

"Duo, he **grunted**," Minako said flatly.

"Yes, true, but it was a **positive** grunt. When you live for seven years with him, you kind of need to learn how to interpret his language," Duo said matter-of-factly.

"He has his own language?" Minako asked dryly.

"Yeah, sure! 'Hn,' means no, whereas 'hn' means yes. 'Hn' means you're an idiot, and 'hn' means get lost. 'Hn' means shut up and 'hn' means--"

"Duo, I'm not noticing a difference between any of them," Usagi said as she flipped one of her long pigtails over her shoulder absent-mindedly and smiled.

"Well, it did take me seven years to get the hang of it."

"By the way, I was going to ask a little while ago, but how long have all of you been at the boarding house?" Usagi asked as she turned around in her seat. (Her neck was beginning to hurt so she decided to turn her whole body around instead of just her head.)

"Yeah, how long?" Minako asked as she began to gnaw on a pencil she had been holding. 

"Heero and I have been here for seven years. Wufei and Quatre have been here for five and Trowa three. There were a few other people but they only came for a few weeks or months at a time, so I never did get to know them real well," Duo shrugged. "Oh well. That's life."

"So you've lived with Heero for **seven** years, and he's just grunted to you the whole time?" Minako asked, still nibbling the poor gray-lead in her hand.

"Not the whole time. Once he said, 'get off' when I was playing on his laptop, and he said 'pass the salt' once at dinner. Oh yeah, and he said 'be quiet' to me when we first met you guys," Duo considered what he'd said. "Hey, that's really weird. I've lived with him for seven years and I can only remember him talking out of class three times." He scratched the back of his head.

"So he talks in class?" Minako asked as she bit straight through her pencil. She looked at sourly for a short moment, then tossed it across the room into the bin. She then began to wipe her mouth on her sleeve in an attempt to get all the wood chips out.

"Well only when he has to."

Minako looked thoughtful for a moment, began to bite her thumbnail (as a poor replacement for her know ruined pencil), then clicked her fingers as an idea came to her.

"OK. Our mission is to make Heero Yui speak when he doesn't have to. In class, and out of," Minako said with an evil grin.

"Mission accepted!" Duo said excitedly as he and Minako shook hands, sealing their partnership on their 'msssion.'

"Are you in, Usa?" Minako said as she looked at the smaller girl.

"Nah, I'll stay out of this one. You guys are on your own," Usagi said as Mr. Sakamoto came rushing back into the classroom looking rather frazzled and carrying a slightly bent stack of worksheets.

 "FIRST SHOWER HOUR!!!" Mr. Colt bellowed from downstairs. "All boys downstairs!!"

After much debate over the first few nights in the boarding house, it was decided that a system had to be worked out for showering times. (Everyone except Duo wanted there to be separate times for each gender.)  Due to the fact that one of the two bathrooms was being renovated, the usable bathroom had to be shared. It was also decided that it should be an hour long because the three showers would have to be shared between each gender. And so, it had been agreed that there would be two hours; one for girls and one for boys. Girls 'shower hour' was first, and went from 5 o'clock to 6, and during that time all male residents had to stay downstairs. Boys 'shower hour' was second, went from 6 to 7, and in that hour the girls had to stay downstairs.

"I'm washing my hair tonight so I have to go first!" Usagi yelled, grabbing her shampoo, conditioner, soap, hairbrush and towel, throwing them into a cloth bag and sprinting through the bathroom door into one of the three shower stalls.

"I'm washing my hair too!" Minako picked up her messy pile of bathroom necessities and hauled them speedily into one of the two remaining stalls. There was a brief moment of silence before Makoto walked calmly out of her room with her bathroom belongings and over to Rei's door. She knocked on it three times to get Rei's attention.

"Rei? Do you want to go in first?" Makoto asked. She didn't really mind if she went in the first or second lot but knew Rei would have a fit if she wanted to go first but couldn't.

"No, I'm fine Mako. I've just got a few more chants to do, I'll go second."

"OK." Makoto walked over to Ami's open door and stuck her head in. "Ami, do you want to go first or don't you mind?" Ami's head swiveled from her books to her friend and smiled.

"Oh, no, I'm just finishing my up homework, so…"

Makoto looked shocked. "Ami, they didn't set any homework, today…"

"Oh, I know. I created this homework on my own. It's all helping me learn, anyway." Ami smiled (again) as if creating your own homework on nights that you had none was perfectly normal and logical. Makato sighed.

"Ami… that's really weird," the tall brunette said with a teasing grin.

"I know, but I can't help it," Ami retorted with a broad and innocent smile.  Makoto laughed.

"Well I'll leave you to it, then."

Makoto shuffles her armful of bathroom items to her left arm and used her right hand to pull the hair-band out of her ponytail. Giving her head a quick shake to loosen her hair from its ponytail shape, she walked into the bathroom… 

…and had the misfortune of hearing Usagi sing. 

She tried not to listen as she walked to the last empty stall. She put her shampoo, conditioner and soap into the holder attached to the wall and stacked her towel and change of clothes onto the ledge high up on the wall of her cubicle. While she undressed and turned on the water, she listened in on Minako's and Usagi's conversation. (Finally, she had stopped singing!)

"Hey, I forget to point it out at school, but at the start of the day I saw you standing with Heero, Usa!" Minako taunted. If Makoto had been able to see her face, she would have been grinning evilly. Usagi groaned.

"Ah! Minako, Give it a rest! He was the person on my slip! **That's** why I was standing next to him!" She said exasperatedly.

"Oh ho ho…! Well you certainly didn't have to stay there the **whole** time! And what about the poor person that had your slip? They would have felt like they'd **failed**!" Minako said dramatically.

At this point, Makoto began to massage her shampoo into her hair.

"**Heero** had my slip," Usagi pointed out.

"IT'S A **SIGN**!" Minako sounded like she was jumping up and down, and Makoto was seriously worried that her friend would slip and break something (whether it be the door or her leg).

"Oh it **so** is not…" Makoto could **tell Usagi was rolling her eyes.**

"Well you certainly **looked** snuggly with him, Usa." Minako's evil, childish cackle/giggle followed her statement.

Makoto rinsed her hair as the child-like laughter rang through the large bathroom.

"Well… you…" Usagi seemed to struggle to find a retort, "You certainly seem snuggly with **Duo!**" Usagi yelled victoriously. 

_Ouch. That one would've caught Minako off guard._ Makoto thought, wincing inwardly. There was a small silence, where only the sound of water splashing on skin could be heard, until Minako returned with a vengeance.

"Ew… that would be like **like-liking** a really good friend or something…" Minako said quickly, as if to make up for the uneasy silence she had left. (A silence in which Makoto had begun to condition her hair.)

"Well why did you take so long to answer, eh Minako?" Usagi said in a voice that would usually be accompanied by sly elbow-pokes into someone's ribs.

"Well **you** would be stunned if I said you got snuggly with like **Umino** or something," Minako pointed out.

"You said 'really good friend,' Minako, not 'dork,'" Usagi said wryly.

"Yeah well…" Minako trailed off. Makoto washed herself with her bar of soap then rinsed out her hair. She turned of the water, dried herself off then got changed into her clothes. Carefully stacking all of her belongings into her arms, she exited the stall.

"You guys should talk about something else for once. You're starting to get obsessed," Makoto said with a laugh as both girls squawked with indignation.

At exactly 7:01 Usagi walked down the stairway of the boarding house and into the Lounge room. It was oddly empty, but she wasn't complaining; with no one else in there except Heero (who was clacking away at his laptop) she would have full control over the remote **and** the TV.

She ran into the room, pounced over one of the arms of the sofas and landed next to the remote. Extremely happy with her perfect landing, Usagi cheerily snatched up the remote and turned on the television. She became even more jovial when her favourite show popped onto the screen. 

It was also Minako's favourite show, and usually they would watch it together, but Minako had foregone it to continue plotting with Duo (who had decided against a shower) on their latest scheme. Usagi was extremely curious of whether or not they would succeed, so she wasn't hurt at all by her friend not following the usual routine.

Rei had continued her meditation or whatever she did in her room, Makoto was helping Mr. Colt with dinner, Trowa and Quatre were having their showers, Ami was studying in her room (Makoto and herself had talked her out of doing her own homework, but she had stubbornly argued that she had to study every night so she wouldn't fall behind.)

_Like **that** would ever happen._

And Rei's mortal enemy had sided with Duo by deciding not to have a shower (however, he used his free time to continue on training.)

_He must be training for the re-match that he and Rei are going to have._

The thought of the duel brought back the memory of the printout Heero had given her.__

_I should probably read that properly. I mean, Heero **did** put effort into getting it for me._

She was in the middle of debating mentally whether or not to get up and get the printout when Heero surprised her by asking a question.

It surprised her for two reasons. One; he talked without having to (so poor Minako and Duo were plotting for a false cause) and Two; the question was about a subject she held guarded very close to her heart.

"Who's 'Mamo-chan?'"

He had just been in the middle of hacking into the school's network when Usagi walked, no **ran** into the lounge room. He paid her no mind at first, and concentrated on changing some of the files stored in the school's system. First of all, he added more complaints under the file 'Tomizawa.'

He'd decided for his New Year Resolution to become friendlier and more human. He decided that he would begin achieving is resolution by helping people. Of course, that wasn't really his style and he wasn't used to being kind, so he decided to help people out without them knowing it. 

He started by hacking into the school's system and filing masses of anonymous complaints referring to Ms. Tomizawa. He knew that almost the entire school despised her; it was just that no one had the courage to get rid of her. 

At last count, he had filed 1078 complaints. Most people would believe that to be almost impossible to think up and file 1078 complaints for just one teacher, but 'most people' probably haven't had the displeasure of being taught and tormented by her. 

It was actually quite an easy task.

He wasn't big on talking, so the whining, talking and laughing of his peers filled his silence. He listened to their annoying chatter, and most of the time the sentences began with;

"Today, Tomizawa made me…"

Or

"Tomizawa said…"

Or even

"Tomizawa threatened us today with…"

And when you file anywhere between one and forty-two complaints per day, reaching 1078 in total wasn't really a large undertaking. So he added another duty to his mental list titled 'Tasks to help people.' Right under 'Getting Tomizawa fired' was 'Help Duo with his grades.'

After seven long years, he decided that Duo could be considered a friend of his. He had had a few conversations with Duo ('Conversations' meaning Duo talking to him while he busied himself with other, more important and useful tasks) throughout his stay at the boarding house, and grudgingly come to the decision that Duo **could be smart and insightful when he wanted to be. **

Of course, he would severely hurt anyone that discovered he'd admitted that. But whilst no one knew, he decided it was OK to help his braided neighbor.

So Duo, whilst being very deep when he wanted to be, tested **very **badly. He **could be very sharp and clever as he rattled on about anything that popped into his mind, but get him to put it to paper or try to remember what he just said and he would fall to pieces.**

He knew that the idiot would be famous one day, so he helped him out by changing the grades on his files. It was nothing big, simply small modification such as changing a 'B' to a 'B+' or an 'A-' and so on.

But back to the Lounge Room.

Usagi had just turned on the television ((AN: yes, all of Heero's thoughts flew through his head in a matter of seconds. Isn't it weird how that happens?)) and was happily watching a cartoon of some description. He mentally rolled his eyes and concentrated on the task at his fingertips. After firing off another complaint about a certain gym teacher, he stilled his fingers and turned his head slightly so he could look at her properly.

He had been insanely curious about who 'Mamo-chan' was. (Which surprised him greatly because he had never been insanely curiously or even greatly surprised.) And before he could control himself (Which also surprised him) he asked her. 

He decided afterwards that curiosity (whilst killing cats and other just as unfortunate things) was simply another step to becoming more human.

"Who's 'Mamo-chan?'"

She flinched in surprise at his question, and turned wide, shocked, but strangely guarded eyes towards him very slowly.

"What?" She asked very softly, almost as if trying to hide something in her voice.

"Nothing," he grunted, snapping his head back to his laptop and continuing with his semi-false complaints as if he hadn't said a word. He severely berated himself for opening his usually tightly sealed mouth as she stood and walked over and stood right in front of him.

"How do you know about Mamo-chan?" She asked, very slowly and very softly, not because of anger, but because she was obviously holding a tight reign on her emotions and tears. He decided to stay silent and hope she would simply drop the subject that was plainly hurting her mentally and just go away.

She didn't.

"How?" She repeated, her eyes becoming wider as hurt began to creep in at the edges.

"You were talking in your sleep."

"How did you hear me?"

"I have good ears." He didn't want her to know about his little adventure into her room, so he simply stated a fact about himself that she would consider as his answer. She sighed and limply sat down next to him, staring at her hands that had fallen into her lap.

"What did you hear?" She asked softly, a barely detectable stutter in her voice.

He had many options for that one.

1: Reply truthfully and say, "I heard you say, 'don't leave me' and 'I love you', etc."

2: Ignore her, close his laptop and return to his room.

3: Grunt, ignore her, and continue what he was doing.

4: Lie and say, "I heard nothing."

His mind raced, trying to find an answer. He decided on using the method that had seemed to work the previous night.

_What would Quatre or Duo do?_

Quatre and Duo were the two people most comfortable with their emotions that resided in the boarding house, so logically, they were the first people to consider.

_Quatre would try to soothe and console her. Duo would try to be humorous and cheer her up. I'm, not humorous and I can't console people. So what do I do?_

He knew he must have started to look ever so slightly panicked on the outside (She wasn't looking at him, so she wouldn't notice it, but the thought that his useless emotions were showing on the outside was worrying him even more than his current predicament was.)

Now that he had started to enter the first stages of panic, he couldn't ignore her or lie to her (He had seen people lie when they became panicked and it was painfully obvious that they were fabricating, so he decided against it).

He didn't have the time to consider more options, so he was left with his first; The truth.

"'Don't leave me,' 'I love you,' and 'I'll become mature,'" he said unemotionally but truthfully.

She sighed and sat up straight, as if preparing to tell a long story. She moved her pigtails out of her face and over her shoulder, then briefly glanced over to the staircase (he supposed she was planning her exit) then went back to staring at her hands (that were now fidgeting.)

"Do you know why Minako wants so badly to set me up with every second guy she sees?" Usagi said, trying to sound flippant and not serious, but not succeeding.

He didn't answer her, but he didn't start typing again, which she must have taken as an 'I am listening to your story, please continue.'

"It's because they want me to get over Mamoru. That was 'Mamo-chan.'"

She quickly brushed the beginnings of tears out of her eyes with her fingers.

"He had been my boyfriend for a long time. But… he had to go to America for a job, and he told me he wasn't going to come back. I knew where he was going with the conversation so I told him that our relationship could still work, that I would work hard through school, and as soon as was able to I would fly up there and live with him."

She took a deep breath and exhaled softly.

"He said no. He told me I wasn't mature enough, and that we should break it off before he left. I **told** him I would become mature, I **begged** him not to leave… but… he did. And so… before he left, I made one last request of him... I asked him to kiss me before he left, just one last time. But…"

She emitted a short, choked laugh.

"… he didn't. I never did get to kiss him goodbye. He just walked away from me, leaving the part that loved me behind. I've always wondered… if I had kissed him that one time, would he have realized just how much I cared for him? Would he realized that I was telling the truth when I said I would become mature?"

She shook her head sadly.

"…I know he probably wouldn't have. But, I still think and wonder about it…"

She sighed again and smoothed her dress. She looked around the room quickly and her eyes settled on him. She jumped a bit, as if just remembering he was there.  As if just remembering she had told him her story.

As soon as her eyes rested soon him she flinched. She had become so involved in her story that she had forgotten all about him, and now he was just sitting there. His fingers resting on the keyboard but not pressing anything, his hair as shaggy and messy as ever, and his eyes focused on her.

All hope that he had been ignoring her was gone, as his cold, emotionless eyes were stared at her. She could see that he had listened to her… she could see it his eyes. His eyes were always cold, uncaring and completely void of emotion, but she could tell that they had changed somehow, signaling that he had listened. She could also see that his eyes told the most about him, even though that wasn't very much.

She had always had a knack for seeing the good side of people and how they truly were, she could always tell when there was something wrong, and she **knew** that Heero Yui still had his stories to tell.

*******End chapter 7

Phew.

Story this is late, I was banned from the computer for a day. :P

I know that there wasn't much of anyone except Duo, Minako, Usagi and Heero but I need to Heero's and Usagi's relationship going before I move on (and that's going to take a few chapters…sigh), and once I get the ball rolling I'll focus on the others. (Ugh, I'm dreading Makoto and Trowa. That's going to take a **long** time.)

But Minako and Duo are a cool because they make the chapters easier to write and they seem to make all you wonderful people out there happy.

So we're **all** happy.

~Jemjols.

PS: Please review! I love reviews! I read every single one like **four** times! Don't be afraid! REVEIW! *pants  and then goes back to sleep* 


	8. Unusual Housewife

Hello again, everyone!

I would have got this out earlier, but I was out holidaying. 

(YAY! Me and some of my family members went to Thredbo (It's a mountain resort place thingy in Australia for those who don't know) for a week. It was a bit freaky though, 'cause we're currently in bushfire season in Oz and we had to drive through 4 hours of smoke, plus five hours of no smoke to get there. It would have only taken like, two hours, but every quick road there was closed.)

And I actually **saw the fire. Not up close or anything, but it was across the river we were driving along.******

Unfortunately we had to leave Thredbo early because the fire moved 10 km overnight until it was only 15km away from where we were staying, and the whole place was covered with smoke.

Anyway, I got back only recently, and decided to get this chapter out quickly, because I'm going away for ANOTHER week next week.

**Mercury Ice Storm: **I'm sorry I couldn't get this out for your birthday… let's just call it a belated present. ^_^

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Eight: Unusual Housewife**

Usagi had heard people term eyes as 'the window to the soul.' It **sounded** very poetic and sappy, but it was very true. 

She had pondered the term a while ago, and come to the conclusion that you could always find the truth about a person by looking hard into their eyes.

Usually, when she looked at someone, she would see a good person (although sometimes the goodness of a person was hiding, and covered by the darkness of greed and anger), but most of the time when she looked at Heero, she saw that the windows to his soul had their curtains closed and planks of wood nailed across the windowpanes.

If Usagi had realized that she had been staring thoughtfully into his eyes for more that five minutes, she probably would have looked away, but because she had slipped into her own sort of dream-like state, she continued to stare.

"You're lonely…" slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. She snapped herself out of her daydreaming and clapped a hand over her lips. His eyes widened a bit and she turned away at lightning speed, blushing furiously.

She stared at the floor bashfully until she worked up the courage to talk again.

"I'm sorry… I didn't even realize what I was--"

"Forget it," he said, not harshly, just in his usual monotone. He closed his laptop, exited the lounge room and climbed up the stairs.

_Gah! How **embarrassing**! _Usagi thought as she let her gaze move from Heero to the television screen. She stared at it for the twenty minutes that remained of her favourite show, then sauntered into the Dining Room and plonked herself down on a chair next to Minako.

"What's wrong, Usagi?" Minako asked, worry lacing her happy voice. As she saw the odd look on her normally happy friend's face.

Usagi let her head fall to the table with a bang in response. Duo looked at her curiously.

"Is that… normal, Mina?" He asked as his brow puckered in a frown.

"I don't know…" Minako replied, poking Usagi in the side of the head to make sure she was still alive. "Hey, Usagi? What's wrong?" She asked as she continued to poke her long-haired friend.

"Well…" Usagi began, her voice slightly muffled due to the fact her face was mashed against the dining table, "It was really embarrassing… but…" She lifted her head and angrily plucked away the hair stuck to her face. "Well now that I think about it, it wasn't **too** bad… but it was **really** weird at the time… I don't know…"

Usagi sighed and looked at them both, expecting them to comment.

They stared blankly.

"Yes… and this embarrassing deed would be…" Duo said, making circling gestures with his hands, almost saying 'insert your embarrassing deed here.'

Usagi barked a laugh as she came to her senses and looked at them incredulously.

"You think I would tell **you two**? Hah! You would never let me live it down!" She stuck her tongue out and pranced out of the room, ignoring their shouts of 'you can trust us' and 'we would let you live it down, honest!'

As soon as she was out of their sight she leaned against the wall and listened in on what they were saying.

"You know, it was probably just a confession of love for Heero or something," Duo said.

"Just a confession?! JUST??! They just confessed there love and **we** weren't there to see it!!" Minako said furiously, followed by a stomp that just **may** have been her climbing onto the table and striking a dramatic pose.

"Hey… You're **right**!!" Duo exclaimed as another stomp could be heard. (Usagi assumed it to be Duo climbing onto the table to join Minako in her dramatic pose striking.)

A small silence followed.

"Yeah, but… what would have been so embarrassing about that, I mean, wouldn't they be happy?" Duo pointed out unsurely.

"Oh, yeah… well, maybe they didn't confess their love… Hmm… Ah well, let's just get back to our mission," Minako said as a scrambling noise reached Usagi's ears. (She decided it was the two of them climbing carefully off the table and returning to there original seats.) "So where were we… OK, strike plan number 17, Heero wouldn't talk if we emptied several bottles of Orange Juice into his underwear drawer, he would just beat you up." Minako said matter-of-factly.

"And scratch plans 3 through to 16 as well, they would also result in beatings," Duo added.

Usagi rolled her eyes and her friends' plotting and walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Mako... can I get please some quick food? I need a bit of cheering up," Usagi mumbled as she sat down on one of the two old rickety stools in the Kitchen. Mr. Colt was far too busy creating a spectacularly bad-tasting masterpiece and did not notice her. Her tall brunette friend did, however, and swiftly made a savory treat. Usagi took it graciously and began to munch on it. "Mmm… thanks Mako, you're a pal."

Makoto grinned.

"You're welcome. But, hey, Dinner's in less than 45 minutes so I can't make you another one," she said, shooing Usagi out of the Kitchen then returning to try and put some flavor into Mr. Colt's monstrosity.

"Fine, I'll go and mope somewhere else," Usagi said jokingly and walked into the ballroom. 

She'd decided in her first few days at the boarding house that she liked the ballroom. It was very empty (it's only furnishings were some paintings on the walls, a piano, the chandeliers on the roof and a portable CD player/radio), but it gave the impression that it could be very beautiful if someone put some effort into it.

_This place would be beautiful…_ she thought wistfully as she walked into the centre of the room and took it in. _I can see it now… flowers everywhere, lights and wonderful music… _she sighed happily. _I can't wait for the first school dance…_

She twirled on her heel and walked over to the old wooden piano shoved up against the wall. On the top of it was an dusty and large portable radio. She flicked it on and turned the tuning dial slowly until she reached her favourite station.

"And we're nearly to number ten on the countdown for this week, here's number 11…" A young man's voice said charismatically as the song began to play. Usagi smiled and sat down on the piano chair, listening to the exciting beat of the music and chewing on her snack. When she had finished it, the countdown was halfway through the fourth song. 

She looked at her watch and saw that dinner was only eighteen minutes away, and was just about to leave the Ballroom when she heard a surprised and loud squeak from upstairs. She didn't even have time to ponder who it was because Ami came sprinting into the Ballroom, cheeks red from embarrassment and panting from her dash down the stairs. She rushed towards the piano and hid around the side of it, clutching some of her books to her chest and trying to make herself smaller to avoid the embarrassment she had just fled from.

"Ah… Ami? What's wrong?" Usagi asked, turning down the volume of the radio and hopping off her seat to sit next to her distraught friend. She was panting heavily, and her answer took a long time to get out due to her gasping.

"I… was… stud-…-ying… and I didn't… realize…that it was… boy's… shower hour… and… I finished studying….so… I picked up… a few books… and… went out of my… room… and…" She ducked her head to hide her reddening cheeks and began to breathe heavily.

"Ami, you're hyperventilating. What happened?" Usagi queried, eager to know what had the got usually calm and serene Ami so flustered. Her blue haired friend panted a bit more then took a deep breath and lifted her head, ready to continue her story.

"Well, I…" She sighed. "I went out of my room, and as I said I had forgotten that it was boy's shower hour and I hadn't heard the call to go downstairs, so… I went out and saw… Quatre." Her cheeks began to grow redder.

"What's so bad about seeing Quatre?" Usagi asked, confused.

"He was only wearing a **towel **around d his waist! That was it!" Ami exclaimed, her whole face crimson as she ducked her head again. Usagi gasped then began to laugh uncontrollably.

"You…! You forgot…! And…! Oh, that's a classic!" Usagi doubled over and began to pound the floorboards with her right hand as tears began to squeeze out of her eyes. "And you…! You **squeaked**!"

"Usagi! It was **embarrassing**!" Ami frowned. "Usagi!" Ami poked her friend in the shoulder, trying to make her stop laughing. After a minute or so she managed to calm herself down and sit up straight with a serious face.

"OK, OK. Ami, calm down. Just apologize to him or something later, and then just agree to never speak of it again or keep it a secret. I'm sure he was just as embarrassed as you," Usagi reasoned.

_Maybe I should do that to Heero… he was probably as embarrassed as I was… well maybe not **as** embarrassed…_

"Yes. That's a very logical answer, Usagi." Ami nodded, her wits coming back to her.

"Well, I do have occasional spurts of wisdom," Usagi said with a shrug and a smile.

"Thanks, Usa."

The dinner bell rang as soon as Ami's words finished.

"C'mon, I'm hungry! Let's eat! You can apologize to Quatre after," Usagi said, standing up and offering her friend a hand. Ami took it, pulled herself up and walked together with Usagi out of the Ballroom, joining the other boarders as they filtered into the Dining Room. 

Almost everyone at the dining table was glowing red. Ami and Quatre were two embarrassed tomatoes sitting together, Rei and Wufei were crimson with fury as they sat opposite from each other in a silent staring competition, Minako and Duo were about to burst from holding in their laughter at one of their more recent plots, Makoto was blushing slightly because she was seated next to Trowa, and Usagi was slowly getting redder due to the face that every time she looked up she saw Heero Yui's face. 

Unfortunately for Usagi, she had come in last, and the only remaining seat was the one opposite Heero, so every time she took a bite she would see him. He was never looking at her, but it was still just as embarrassing for her.

But what was unnerving her even more that Heero being opposite was the fact that there was silence. Well, except for the sound of chewing. But apart from that there was silence. Absolutely no banter, no voices, no kissing chants… just silence.

_I never realized how quiet mealtimes are_… Usagi thought happily, reveling the feel of the lack of noise. (It was a rare occurrence when absolutely **no one** was talking in the Boarding House. Even at night, when everyone was trying to get to sleep, Minako and Duo's voices could be heard conversing through the walls.)

Quickly deciding that it must have looked odd to be sitting smiling at the Dinner table doing nothing, Usagi quickly returned back to her food and speedily polished it off… as well as a second and third helping.

The rest of the boarders finished soon after her, and since it was Minako and Duo's turn to clean up, everyone began to exit, leaving the prankster pair to their job.

As Usagi left the room, she saw Rei and Wufei glare at each other in the Entry then turn away and begin to climb up the stairs. However, realizing they'd done the same thing, they stopped and glared silently, turned their backs on each other, then moved down the stairs back into the Entry. When they reach the bottom, they stopped, glared, then moved towards the corridor leading to the backyard.

Usagi looked on as they moved around the room tegether, wanting to laugh hysterically but having the wits not too.

_I think Minako's right when she says those two are going to get together…_

After realizing that their moving glaring contest wasn't going to come to a dramatic climax anytime soon, Usagi let her eyes wonder to another part of the room.

Near the table in the middle of the Entry, an alarmingly red Ami conversed with Quatre. (Usagi could only see the back of Quatre's head, but from the look of his red tinged ears and neck, he was blushing too.) Ami seemed to be trying to apologize, but Quatre was waving his hands as if to say 'don't be sorry, it was an accident.'

Smiling at how the two of them were each trying to be polite, Usagi turned her head to see Makoto and Trowa walking up the stairs.

They weren't walking up the stairs **together**, Trowa was a good six steps ahead of her, and Makoto was walking up the stairs behind him, looking as though she was too afraid to walk closer because she might look like she was stalking him.

_Poor Mako. She should just ask him out and be done with it._

Just as Usagi was about to bound up the stairs and suggest the course of action to her friend, she heard a strangely destructive noise coming from the inside the Kitchen behind her. She spun on her heel and trudged towards the noise as was shocked (but not really shocked) to see Minako and Duo having a water fight and fencing with kitchen utensils, having completely forgotten about their cleaning task.

She opened her angered mouth to tell them to stop fooling around… but it turned into an evil grin as she realized the more mess they **made**, the more they'd have to clean up. She backed away slowly, then bolted up the stairs and raced to Makoto's bedroom. She knocked on the door loudly.

"Mako! It's Usagi!" She exclaimed happily and waited for her friend's response.

"Hey Usa, door's open." Came the muffled reply through the door. Usagi grabbed a hold of the doorknob, twisted it then let the door fly open after she gave it a little push.

"Mako, I just had a great idea…" Usagi began, walking into the room and letting her words trail off to make sure Makoto was interested. She was, as it turned out, so she put down her romance novel and turned around in her desk chair.

"What…?" She asked slowly, not sure if Usagi was trying to be helpful or acting like Minako. (Last time Minako said 'she just had a great idea' for her, it was that she should hide in trees and 'accidentally' fall on the guys she liked.)

"Well, you know how you like Trowa…" She trailed off again, waiting for a reaction.

Makoto blushed and her eyes widened a bit.

"Y-yes…" She stuttered.

"I think you should ask him on a date!" Usagi threw her hands in the air dramatically. (Makoto half expected confetti and streamers to come shooting out of nowhere.)

"Why?" Makoto asked blandly, unfortunately popping Usagi's excitement bubble.

"Be**cause**, he obviously isn't going to make the first move, so why don't you?" She explained exasperatedly.

"So what do you suggest I do? Just walk right up to him and say, 'Hey Trowa, I was wondering, do you want to go for a shake or something on the weekend?'" Makoto asked sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

"Well…yeah." Usagi shrugged.

"You know…" Makoto stood up and walked over to her, her chin in her fist as she seemed to turn something over in her mind. "…That's just crazy enough to work!" She patted Usagi on the shoulder and grinned.

"Yup, I'm brilliant," Usagi boasted and poked out her tongue. "Well you can do that whenever you like, I gotta go do stuff, but remember to give me a full report and date details!"

Makoto laughed nervously.

"O-OK. I'll just finish this chapter," she said as she scuttled back to hr desk and flipped open her book.

(Usagi briefly wondered **just** how many times she'd read that particular novel but discarded the idea when she realized that Makoto pretty much always had it in her hand.)

Smiling at the thought that Makoto would **finally** go on a date after such a long while, Usagi walked down the corridor. **Originally**, she had intended to go to her own room, but she ended up standing in front of Heero's door. She prepared her knuckles for the vast amount of knocking they were about to undertake.

She reached out her arm and knocked three times…

…and was **really** surprised when the door flung open without her having to knock again.

"What?" Was the frost-covered word that was thrown at her monotonously from the boy in the doorway.

"Ah… I…" She took a deep breath her jovial attitude had just flown out of some windoe in her mind, leaving her nervous. "I just wanted to ask you not to tell anyone what I said about Mamo-ch--… Mamoru. They all think I've gotten over it so…" She looked up from her fiddling hands (she didn't even remember looking down, though) to see his hard, icy blue eyes staring at her. Panic started to flood inside her as he gave her no response. "You won't tell anyone will you?" she squeaked, almost hysterically, jumping forward and grabbing onto his tank top.

She didn't know why she was getting **really** worked up, (it wasn't really **that **bad, afterall) but the thought of all of them having to comfort her **again** over a matter that was gone made her want to cry and bring back memories. She wanted to be **away** from Mamoru… she loved him but it hurt her… it **pained **her because…

_Don't go there, Usagi. Please, just don't think about him. Don't cry…_

 "You won't…please?" She gasped out as unwanted memories of Mamoru began to surge through her head. She could feel tears coming…

_Oh, God… not in front of Mr. Emotionless…_

"I won't," she heard him say, almost exasperatedly. She let go of his top as soon as he spoke and exhaled with relief.

"Thankyou," she said softly. She wiped the beginnings of a tear out of her left eye and looked up with a forced grin. "So… have you thought of a way I can pay you back yet?"

"No." He turned and walked back to his desk, sat down and began to type on his laptop, intensely radiating the signal that said 'go away.' 

"Well, you'd better. Those two things have a used-by-date y'know. One month and they're moldy," Usagi stated matter-of-factly as continued to stand in the doorway, knowing it was annoying him. She'd even half forgotten about her embarrassment and teary moments earlier. (Teasing the icicle in front of her was **that** much fun.) "Better think of something, the clock's ticking…"

"Hn."

"Yeah well, not my fault if you don't get a favor in return. Say, what're you doing there?" She asked as she invited herself into his room and peered over his shoulder. Before she could get a good look at what he was doing, he tapped a combination of keys that closed all open programs and left the screen with an empty desktop. (And it truly **was** empty. His desktop was simply a luminous blue that had 'Heero Yui' in the upper right corner.) "Well, well, Mr. Secretive are we?" She said slyly. 

"Out," he grunted.

She put her hands on her hips and pressed her lips together.

"Not until I pay you back once," she said sternly, fully intending not to leave. Use-by-date or not, Usagi was one who preferred to pay off her debts. (They could be very nasty and creep up on you at the most inconvenient of times if they were left unpaid.) Heero stood up and turned around to look down at her. "And don't you even **consider** pushing me **out**, Heero." She narrowed he eyes, trying to look menacing. (It probably didn't look frightening at all considering that he was taller than her.)

"Out," he repeated.

She scooted back a little (being so close to him was a little unnerving) and planted her feet firmly. And on a whim poked her tongue out at him. He smirked slightly (**ever** so slightly) and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fine," he said, almost challengingly. "But what could you do for me?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow faintly.

"I--" Usagi cut herself short as she realized there probably** was** nothing she could do for him. "Well you're smart aren't you? Think of something!" She challenged right back at him.

"Hn."

When he simply began to stare at her (Usagi thought that he must have just been thinking), Usagi decided to look around his room to find something she could do for him. Her eyes eventually fell on his bed.

"Ew… maybe I could make your bed for you or something… I'm the most unorganized person in the world but even **I** can be bothered to make my bed…" She looked on distastefully at the doona and sheets that were in disarray on top of his mattress. She couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed it earlier.

"Fine," he said with a short nod, efficiently ending the conversation and turning back to his laptop.

"What? I just have to make your bed once and that's it?" Usagi asked as she scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"No," he said curtly.

"Well what then?"

"Make it for the next three weeks," he stated easily. Usagi squawked.

"**Three** weeks?" Usagi asked, shocked.

"You wanted to pay me back," he countered, not really caring about the conversation while he opened up a document on his laptop.

"Alrighty then. So I guess I start now, huh?" She asked as she walked towards the bed pushed against the wall.

"Hn."

"Kind of defeats the purpose though, I mean, you're going to be going to bed soon anyway…" she chanced a glance at him, only to realize he was giving her a glare (a mild glare, but a glare nonetheless) that told her to shut up. She ignored it. "Sheesh, I feel like a housewife… making a bed for a guy… nothing **wrong** with being a housewife (my mum's one, you see), but I don't think being a housewife at 15 sound too good. I mean, you've got you're whole life to live. Of course, when I get through Uni and get a job, maybe meet a nice guy later on and settle down, **then** being a housewife would be fine." She explained, all the while making his bed. (She knew her chatter annoyed him, so she tried to keep it up.)

"You know, I don't think I've ever met a house-**husband**. Sounds weird, doesn't it?" She suddenly let a short, but still quite loud, laugh that made Heero jump a bit. "I just got the funniest picture of you running around a house wielding a feather-duster and wearing an apron! House-husband indeed!" She calmed her mirth and patted his now made bed quickly. "Anyway, all done. I'll make it again tomorrow, after breakfast. Bye!"

 She bounced out of his room before he had time to say anything (although it would have been quite astounding if he **did**) and went into her room, just noticing Makoto and Trowa out of the corner of her eye.

_Go for it, Mako!_

As she finished off the last word of the chapter, nerves took a hold of her. She shakily put down her book and stood up, breathing in deeply and exhaling loudly

_Go for it, Makoto! You've got nothing to lose!_

She nodded to herself and marched out of her room and into the corridor. She turned left sharply and planted herself in front of Trowa's door…

…her nerves came back to her then.

_Don't worry! Calm, calm…_

She breathed a few deep breaths then tapped on his door with her knuckles. After a few seconds, the door opened to produce Trowa. He didn't say anything, just looked at her, waiting for her to explain her presence.

"Oh, um… Trowa. I--if  you're not doing anything on the weekend… um, do you want to go and have lunch with me?" Her last few words came out a bit hurried. He continued to look at her until finally (after almost a minute) he nodded slightly.

"OK," he said and closed the door.

Makoto stared on in shock, then brightened and grinned as she realized what just happened. She turned to her left (ready to go and tell Usagi the good news), only to be faced with the sight of Minako and Duo at the end of the corridor near the stairs grinning devilishly. They looked at each, both took a deep breath then bellowed their amazingly annoying chant.

"Trowa and Makoto sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes the love, then comes the marriage, then comes the baby, in the golden carriage! Trowa and Makoto…"

Makoto flushed then walked briskly to Usagi's room. She slipped inside and closed the door before Minako and Duo had a chance to creep in.

"I see it went well then?" Usagi questioned with eyebrows raised, closing the magazine she was reading and standing. "So…?"

"Well… I asked him if he wanted to go to lunch with me on the Weekend and he said OK…" She shrugged as a big smile spread across her face. Usagi began to bounce up and down excitedly.

"Oooh! A date! The first date of the year for the five of us! Well done, Mako!" Usagi gave her a big hug. "But what're you going to **wear**?"

Makoto gasped in shock. "I haven't got a thing!" She began to fret as pictures of her eating lunch on a date in school clothes popped into her head.

It took Usagi ten minutes to calm her down.

"STOP IT, ONNA!!" Wufei finally (and gracefully) broke their combined stubborn silence.

"Stop **what**, IDIOT?!" She turned and faced him, a rage-filled inferno burning in her eyes.

"STOP **FOLLOWING** ME, YOU WEAKLING! YOU ARE SIMPLY TRYING TO PREVENT MY TRAINING!!" Wufei bellowed and pointed an accusing finger at Rei. She batted it away angrily and pointed her own finger.

"HARDLY! YOU'RE STOPPING **ME** BECAUSE YOU KNOW I'LL **WIN** OTHERWISE!!" She put her hands on her hips and stuck her nose in the air. Wufei stopped at bit before retaliating (her stance looked like a feminine version of his own) then came back at full power.

"DO NOT FLATTER YOURSELF, **WOMAN**!! YOUR DEFEAT IS UNAVOIDABLE!! Wufei roared, his eyes full of anger.

"DEFEATING YOU AGAIN WILL BE MY GREATEST VICTORY, **WUFEI CHANG**, AND YOU WILL NEVER FORGET IT!!" Rei yelled angrily. They both glared furiously at each other, then made for the stairs. They stopped and glared at each other. "**I** am going to go to the training hall," Rei said, icily calm yet wavering a bit with pent up anger, "And do **not** follow me."

She spun gracefully on her heel and walked down the corridor, leaving an infuriated Wufei standing in the Entry with his mouth moving angrily but no words coming out. In the end, he just settled for screaming out one word to her.

"**ONNA!!!**"

*******End chapter 8

Was going to make this chapter longer but it's past midnight and I'm tired…

Won't have another chapter out for awhile because I have rowing camp for four days…

Can't think of anything else…

Except…

Sleep…

Bai Bai,

~Jemjols

PS: And, as always, REVIEW!! (please?!)


	9. I saw what you did

Okay, back from Rowing Camp…

Really tired…

…BUT!

Guess where we stayed for the duration of the week? Go on, guess.

…Did any of you guess the **boarding house**?

Well if you did, you were right.

We weren't in the boarding house I modeled the story's one after (my school has 2, you see) but it was a boarding house nonetheless. I had some serious writer's block before going off to camp but now I've got some ideas. (yay!)

Disclaimer: Do I really have to tell you I don't own GW or SM?

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Nine: I saw what you did**

"WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUP!!!" A shrill, jovial, but mostly **load** voice rang through the upstairs corridor. 

"WAKE UUUP HOOOOOOOOOUSE!!" Came another yell right after the first, but it was a more masculine version of the shrill voice.

The two screams were then followed by a, "MAXWELL!! ONNA!! YOUR YELLING IS AN INSULT TO THOSE WHO WISH TO SLEEP!!"****

Wufei's outburst was followed by Duo and Minako screaming, terrified (but still laughing) as Wufei chased them up and down the hall.

Usagi groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her brand new alarm clock (Which consisted of Minako, Duo and Wufei screaming and yelling just outside her door) wasn't as friendly as her old one (which played a pleasant little tune that sounded like wedding bells) but it certainly did its job well.

She yawned as she swung her legs over the edge of her bed and stretched her arms, letting out a content sigh as she let her arms fall to her lap when she had fully stretched her (almost non-existent) muscles.

"IDIOTS! BE QUIET!!" A commanding, feminine voice yelled from the other side of her door.

_Ah, so Rei's awake._

Her door flew open and a slightly tousled Rei appeared, an angry expression pasting her face.

"Usagi! Get up! You need to help me stop them before they break something again!" Rei ordered as she fled from her doorway and thundered down the stairs, screaming insults and warnings as she followed them.

Usagi sighed again. Her new alarm clock, whilst being effective to an **extreme**, had two functions: wake you up, and get you up.

It was quite depressing, really. Usually she would wake up to the soft, soothing sounds of her furry, pink, cubic alarm clock (that didn't even tell the time, just went off at 8 o'clock) and be able to have another peaceful minutes of restful slumber. Now, however, she had to wake up **every** morning at 6:58 (due to Minako and Duo's **odd** humor) and get up at 6:59.

She stood up and almost subconsciously padded out into the corridor, down the stairway and into the Lounge Room. She sighed angrily at what she saw.

Minako was sprinting around the room like a lunatic, leaping over chairs, dodging them and knocking them over, all the while laughing like a madwoman. 

Duo followed Minako, doing much the same, but yelling taunts and names at Wufei between his cackles and screams.

Wufei chased Duo over and around the couches angrily, yelling 'INJUSTICE!' and tipping over purposefully upturned chairs.

Rei was at the end of the trail, red faced with frustration. She had a little more grace than Wufei, and jumped over most of the overturned couches with mild ease, all the while screaming at the three of them and throwing cushions.

Usagi yawned sleepily and watched the parade circle around the room a few more times until they came closer to her. Rubbing one of her eyes with a fist, she stuck out her left foot. Minako, unaware of the sudden obstacle, tripped over the petite foot and just about flew into a pile of cushions.

Duo, having seen Minako's graceless fall, tried to stop his wild pace before he approached the foot, and managed to succeed avoiding flying into a wall. He did, however, get knocked off balance by the small foot and plummeted to the ground.

Due to more acute reflexes, Wufei was able to stop before he reached 'the foot' that brought about the downfall of his two insane housemates. He narrowed his eyes and sneered down at the crumpled form of Duo Maxwell, as if to say 'how dare you let yourself be outsmarted by a woman.'

Rei (who was still running) turned a couch-made corner and rushed at the still-standing form of Wufei in front of her. She curled her shoulder around in front of her and charged full force at him. 

A short 'oof!' erupted from his lips as he, too, plummeted to the ground (unfortunately squishing Duo in the process).)

Rei drew herself up to her full height in an overly proud fashion and allowed a small, sadistic smirk to appear on her face as she looked down at the three of them.

Usagi tiredly took her hand away from her eye and swiped her foot under Rei's legs, causing the raven-haired girl to topple over onto the small pile of bodies lying on the Lounge Room floor. She then looked over at Minako (who was scrambling out the pile of miss-matched cushions and trying to spit carpet fibres out of her mouth) and smiled a tried, evil smile.

"Guys, can you get me up in half an hour?" She asked absentmindedly as she exited the room and climbed the stairs, ignoring the large amount of indignant shouts being thrown her way. 

She **could just set her alarm, but she wanted to annoy them.**

"BREAKFAAAAAST!" Minako yelled from downstairs, signaling to everyone in the house that it was, indeed, time for breakfast. Ami winced as she walked down the stairs.

"Mina…! Don't **yell so loud. I'm standing right here!"**

"Eh… sorry Ami! I'm just making sure the message gets across!" Minako beamed happily.

"Well, if that message was to **deafen all the children in the Southern Hemisphere, then yes, you got your message across," Rei commented from the top of the stairs. Minako stuck her tongue out at her.**

"Wooooo!! Breakfast!! I'm **hungry!" Duo yelled as he pushed past Rei and slid down the banister. As he landed rather lopsidedly, he pasted a goofy grin on his face and stumbled into the Dining Room. He sat down at his seat excitedly, eagerly awaiting the promised food.**

The rest of the House soon made their way slowly and quietly down after the initial shouting. They were soon all seated and eating their breakfast, most of those present enjoying the rare, rare silence that only seamed to appear at mealtimes.

Minako was unfortunately one of those who did not, and decided to break the silence with a question that made Makoto's cheeks red.

"So Makoto, Trowa…? What're you guys gonna do on your date on the weekend?"

Minako looked intently at the both of them, her head swiveling as she looked from one side of the table to the other. She noticed that Makoto was blushing heavily (She briefly wondered **why she was; Duo and herself already ****knew about it), and that something suddenly seemed different about Trowa.**

_Hmm… maybe I'm just imagining it, but… something about him is different. Yes, I'm **sure of it… but what though? **_Minako stopped staring at the two of them and moved her gaze to the middle of the table, deep in thought. (She had found out that if she looked at something that didn't move it was easier to think hard about something.) _I think it was his eyes. They seemed different… Hm. I'll ask Usagi about it later. She's the one who does the eye thing, anyway. Minako nodded quickly then focused her attention on eating the food in front of her, having completely forgotten about the question she had asked the two tall brunettes._

Which was a good thing, in the end; because one of them didn't know what to say and the other wouldn't have said anything anyway.

"Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God!!" Duo screeched as he ran down the halls, flailing his arms around wildly.

"What?! What?! **What?!" Minako asked loudly, trying to stop the boy's rampage whilst giving reassuring looks to all the other students walking through the hall. After many failures at calming him, Minako simply tackled the braided madman and pinned him to the ground.**

"Oh God oh God oh God oh God…!!!" Minako clapped a hand over Duo's mouth before he could continue his pointless yelling.

"Minako, do you know why he's acting this way?" Ami queried, looking at Duo (who was still flailing on the floor.)

"Yeah! Why's he gone crazy?" Usagi asked as she squatted on her heels next to the boy, fighting a losing battle against the urge to poke him.

"I dunno… Duo? Duo! Snap out of it!" Minako yelled, whacking him repeatedly across the face.

"Oh God oh God oh **God could you stop that?!" Duo squawked, sitting up and rubbing his red cheeks. "I was ****trying to tell all of you that something ****horrible has happened!!" **

Duo exclamation was rewarded with flat looks.

"And…?" Minako prompted, signaling for Duo to continue.

"Oh… yeah! I remember now!" Duo said happily, standing up and smiling. His face suddenly fell as the memory returned. "M--Mrs. Shinohara's sick today so everyone who had her class this p--period now has--has--has-- " Duo stuttered.

"Has **what?! Out with it, Duo!" Minako yelled, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him.**

"Gah! Gym! Whoever had Shinohara this period now has gym!" Duo gasped out, trying to free himself of Minako's hands.

He got a few curious looks, a few shocked ones from students in the hallway who also were in Shinohara's class, and tears from a red headed boy who had just got out of therapy for emotional damages caused by Ms. Tomizawa.

"Gym…?" Minako began softly. "Wooo! I wasn't supposed to have gym for another two days! Gym! Gym! Gym! Come on, Shinohara's class! We have Gyyyyym!" Minako yelled whilst running up and down the hall. "Oh! I have to get ready!" She ran to her locker and rummaged through it. "Ahah! Sports Uniform!" She yelled as she held the outfit aloft and ran to the changing rooms excitedly.

"Ignorance is bliss…" Duo commented ruefully, rubbing the back of his head. "Oh well, I guess **I **liked gym too before I met Tomizawa. You two had better get ready, she's super hard on the people who get to her class late…" Duo said sadly as he plodded to his locker and brought out his rumpled sports uniform.

Ami and Usagi watched as he walked in the direction that Minako had fled moments earlier, dragging his feet and looking like a beat-up puppy.

"Hey, why's Duo upset?" Rei asked as she walked up to the two, carrying her books.

"Well, everyone who had Mrs. Shinohara this period now has Mrs. Tomizawa," Ami explained as she watched Duo walk sadly around a corner.

"Yeah, Duo's scared of her and she picks on him," Usagi added, nodding.

"Well, she's got fresh meat now, which should give him a bit of a break. Anyway, I've got Geography with Okimura now so I'll see you guys later, oh, and tell me how it goes," Rei said as she walked down the hall until she reached the Geography classroom.

"Usagi, by chance, do you know who else had Mrs. Shinohara?" Ami asked, putting her hand over her mouth as she tried to think of the people in the class.

"Well Minako, Duo, you and me…and Heero, I think. And Trowa too. We've all pretty much got the same schedule." Usagi shrugged, then grinned cheekily when Ami looked at her, as if asking her '**how**?'. "I checked everyone's timetable." She chuckled at the semi-serious disapproving look Ami gave her.

"Do you know if Quatre's in this class…?" Ami inquired softly.

"Nah… he's in Mr… hey! Why do you want to know where Quatre is? Oohh… I get it! So Ames, you've got a bit of a crush on Blondie do you?" Usagi asked slyly, poking Ami with her elbow. Ami blushed.

"Well, I don't really--Oh…I mean--You won't tell anyone, will you Usagi?" Ami said hurriedly in a hushed voice. Usagi looked shocked.

"You mean… you actually **do** like him…? I was just being annoying…" said Usagi as a smile began to appear on her face. "But don't worry, Ames, your secret's safe with me!" Usagi winked and gave her friend a 'thumbs-up.' Ami exhaled loudly.

"Phew. Thankyou, Usagi. Ooops! We have to be at class in two minutes! Hurry, Usagi!" Ami said and she quickly retrieved her sports clothes from her locker, panicked at the mere **thought** of being late.

"Usagi Tsukino?!" Ms. Tomizawa yelled over her clipboard that had the attendance list on it.

"Here!" Usagi chirped.

"OK, I want 20 laps of this basketball court. Maxwell, you take the front, if a student passes you, you have to do another 10 laps, now go! All of you! Every minute wasted is another lap! GO!" She yelled, scaring every student present (except Trowa and Heero, of course) into running for his or her life.

Usagi, due to not being very sporty, held up the tail of the large mass of students with Ami. In a silent mutual agreement, they both decided that chatting would take up too much energy and probably land them with twice as many laps to run.

Taking the silence as an opportunity to observe, Usagi carefully studied all of the other students in her class.

Poor Duo was running in front, looking frightened out of his wits but still strangely determined, his long braid swinging from side to side with each step. Minako, Trowa and Heero were following close behind.

Minako, of course, understood that passing Duo would be an act of unbelievable cruelty, so she dropped back a few steps. Unfortunately for Duo, Trowa and Heero did not follow suit and, being faster than him, began to close the space that was between them and Duo. (Usagi realized that they probably weren't doing it intentionally, but were just naturally faster than Duo and didn't like to slow their pace.)

With a frown of disappointment on her face, Usagi continued to watch them as the approached the unfortunate boy at the front. 

_Wait…! Did I just see…?_

The two of them then began to pull back a bit, giving Duo a fair amount of distance.

_I **did**! He did! I **never** thought he would do something like **that**… I'll talk to him after…_

"Okay! That's one lap! 19 more! Go! You're not running hard enough! You, there! You've earned yourself another 5 laps, you lazy idiot! Pick it up! GO!" Tomizawa yelled, whacking all those in range with her blood-red clipboard.

After another 19+ laps of panting, screaming as tears, the entire class collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily (some grasping asthma puffers hard enough to snap them in half).

"Class! Over to the ropes! Get on your feet! You! Another lap, GO!" Tomizawa screamed, as she began to wave her clipboard threateningly at a skinny, light haired boy. "OK! The first for to climb to ropes will be…!

"Gah! I'm so **tired after that!" Usagi whined as she walked into the girl's change room. "And at the start I thought the ****20 laps were hard! I thought **she **wasn't all that bad! I can't believe she managed to make us do so much in so little time! And how **nasty** she could be!" Pulling her sports T-Shirt over her head angrily, Usagi continued to grumble to herself as she changed back into her regular school clothes.**

"Yes, I agree… I don't think I've ever done... so much in one hour…" Ami panted as walked over to the small drinking fountain on the wall and had drink.

"Yeah, well I thought it was **great! I loved it! It should have gone longer!" Minako said happily as she bounced up and down. Usagi rolled her eyes.**

"Mina, there are so many things wrong with what you just said I don't know **where to start," Usagi said as she shook her head. Minako stuck out her tongue.**

"Well, 'nyah' to you too, Usa!" Minako said grumpily and crossed her arms. Then grumpily uncrossed when she realized she had to get changed.

"You know, that was really nice of you before," Usagi said as she sat down next to Heero, holding her lunch. It was already halfway through lunchtime, and she still hadn't touched it (A miracle!) because she had spent so long looking for him. (In the end she found him in a corner of the schoolyard, sitting on a bench under a tree, reading.)

"What?" He asked, a tiny bit of confusion creeping into his emotionless voice.

"In Gym. I saw you stop Trowa when he was about to overtake Duo," Usagi said knowingly and with a smile.

"Hn."

"Yeah, yeah. I thought you'd do that," Usagi laughed and looked at their surroundings.

_Well, well. Looks like Monotone Boy landed himself quite a nice spot here._

When the wind blew, it would flatten the bushes and thin trees in front of them to reveal a beautiful view of the city and the park.  

"You know," Usagi said, still dazed by the incredible view, "I don't know why you're so stand-offish. You probably have a really nice Heero Yui inside you." She thought back to gym class looked at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. He glanced at her quickly. "…but I don't know. I'm not you. But hey, if you **do** have a 'kind Heero' inside you, let him out more often, OK?" She patted him on the shoulder, got back on her feet and began to walk over to where the other girls were.

"Hey, Usa! Come over here!" Minako yelled to her from the lunch tables far away. "We need you to help us help Makoto prepare for her date!"

"Mina!! Not so **loud!**" Makoto yelled, trying to hide form all the looks she was getting from students passing by.

"Hey, did you see Trowa this morning, at the breakfast table?" Minako asked Usagi as they both walked towards the boarding house back-gate.

"Yeah, he was pretty much opposite me," Usagi stated blandly as she walked through and held the gate open for Minako.

"No, I mean his **eyes**. Or **eye**… whatever.  Did you notice something about them or…it?" Minako walked through and Usagi closed the gate behind her, giving her a curious look.

"When…?" Usagi asked cautiously, not knowing where the subject was going.

"When I mentioned Mako's date with him. Mako blushed --well **duh--** but Trowa… I dunno… didn't his eyes look different somehow?" Minako asked quietly as they walked through the back garden. Usagi seemed to be deep in thought.

"… I can't really get a good mental picture of him at breakfast, but…. I think I know what you're talking about. And as weird as it sounds, I remember thinking 'his eyes look strange,'" Usagi said slowly. "Can you explain it to me at all?" She asked hopefully.

"Uh… they looked kind of, um… sparkly? I dunno, they just looked different," she shrugged and tossed a mass of golden hair over her shoulder, accidentally whacking Usagi in the face.

"Ow!" Usagi yelped and squinted as she batted the few remaining strands off her face. "**Any**way, I think I know what you mean," she said, reverting back into her serious mode. "I think Trowa was… happy. He's a pretty lonely guy, you know. Heero is too, but that's a different matter. Anyway… Yeah, I think Trowa was happy that someone noticed him for once."

Usagi smiled as she pictured Makoto and a happy Trowa on a date. The two of them walked in silence to the house. When they reached the back door, Minako spoke up.

"You know, Usa, in all seriousness, you should give Heero a try. I mean he's lonely, right? You said it yourself. He's attractive enough, and he must have a personality underneath," Minako said sincerely. Usagi raised an eyebrow, trying to deflect the serious question with a joke.

"So you think he's attractive, eh?" She joked with a half-hearted grin. 

Minako gave her a pleading look. 

Usagi rolled her eyes. "I don't think so, Mina… don't make a big deal out of this, but… I don't think I'm completely over Mamo-… Mamoru yet…"

"But you said--"

"I know what I said, Mina, it's just that… I didn't want you guys feeling sorry for me. I just need more time." Usagi sighed.

"Usagi…"

Usagi looked at her friend and laughed. Not bitterly, or ruefully, just… naturally. "Oh, don't look at me like that! There's no need to worry! I'll be fine, honest."

When Minako continued to look at her she laughed again.

"**Honest**," she repeated. Minako grinned then hooked her arm around the shorter blonde's.

"Well you still need cheering up. One Minako Special coming your way!" Minako declared, dragging her to the kitchen, sat her down, and began to collect the necessary ingredients-- and then some. "You'll be asking 'Mamoru who?' once you get stuck into a super-duper-deluxe-modified Minako Special!!"

*******End chapter 9

Hee hee… hello! I'm sorry everyone, I could have got this chapter out earlier except well, you know, important distractions. *cough* Neverwinter Nights *cough*…

 **Anyway**, I was going to write more for this chapter but it didn't really fit in with what had happened/

Again, sorry about the lateness! You're going to have to expect a lot more of it though… school just started. *angry sigh* But I think I should be able to get chapters out bi-weekly.

**Mercury Ice Storm**: Thanks! Heero the house-husband came out of my weird imagination, but I'm really glad you liked it! ^_^

**Damia**: Thankyou, Thankyou! I'll try to make the chapters as quick as I can! :)

**Usagi Asia Maxwell**: Lol, Thankyou!

**Celestial DreamBLaze**: Thankyou (multiplied by *counts* one, two, three… seven!)!!! (Gah!  So many thankyous!) Hee hee… we may have a few jealous girls and boys in latter chapters. *evil grin* but you'll just have to see… *cackles*

**Cassie-bear01**:  Hee hee! ^_^ Don't worry! There's **plenty** more 'Awaiting Good Fortune' stocked in my head! ****

**Serena Yuy**: He he he… Usagi : Heero's housewife. Thanks for the compliment! :D

**alexz**: lol, thanks!

***jacinth flame***: lol, you think? And you're right, Duo and Minako never **did** finish cleaning the dishes. ;)

**Cheska**: Lol. I can't see this fic finishing anytime soon… (heheheh ^_~) but I'll try to make all the chappies long! (This one was a bit shorter 'cause the next part I was **going **to write just didn't fit in.)

**Tenshi-Chikyuu**: Hee hee. Thankyou! :)

**exyberrysilver**: Thanks :D (Don't worry, **not** continuing isn't even an option!^_^)

**obsessed**: Hee hee, more compliments! Thankyou! :D

**Jade Stellar**: *evil laugh* Minako and Duo… wont' be 'good friends' for too long… ^_~

**kimeno-pebols**: Thankyou!

**Ayli**: Lol, I don't think anyone could **ever** get tired of compliments! (hehehe) :D Thankyou!!

**Angelight**: Heh heh… 'Duo and Mina.' Nope. I'm pretty sure they're half chibi-devil and half lead, lol. Oh, and making beds? Well that came straight outta real life when I told my sister that as payback she had to make my bed for a week. (I'm evil **and** I'm lazy! ^_~) Lol, Rei and Wufei. (They didn't appear as a could this chapter… hmm… maybe Wufei went on a spiritual journey…. Or maybe not.) **Someone** is going to get hurt before **those** two get together. (I bet Duo) Lol, anyway, thanks for the wonderful review! I love you summarizing my story! (You're always spot-on with everything you say a about it ^_^)

And one last, **giant** THANKYOU again to everyone!

~Jemjols

PS: As always, review! :D

PPS: Lol. I started school yesterday and my first subject was Japanese. Here's my teacher's opening statement:

"Okay, girls. Year 10 Japanese is hard. Very hard. Learning Japanese isn't just fun and games anymore, if you're going to get a good mark you're going to have to work much harder than you have in previous years. Every piece of work you hand in is part of your grade, and if you don't do homework: Detention. No more slack teachers, if you're just here for origami, sushi and games, don't even bother. You can't succeed in this subject unless you try."

After that, when she asked us "Ogenki deska?" we weren't sure whether to timidly answer "Hai, genki des" or just cower in fear.


	10. Just a White Lie

Just two things to say before I beg forgiveness for my lateness:

**1.** No, Tomizawa wasn't modeled after my sensei. (She actually really nice, which is why we were scared when she gave us her 'kind' opening words.)

**2.** Tomizawa is **so **not married. lol. The 'Mrs.' thing was just a typo. (Who could cope with **that** thing?)

OH! And I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the lateness, guys! What's it been now? Two months? More than? OH, the shame! Can I use school as an excuse? No? Fine then. Laziness! I admit it! :P

(*****NOTE TO ALL FANS OF THINGS FROM JAPAN,  PLEASE READ THE NEXT PART. HEHEHEH…***)**

Just **try** and guess who will be going to **JAPAN** on **exchange** at the end of the year!!! If you said **me**, you are **ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!** Wheeeee Heeee! I'm going to Japan! Home of anime, final fantasy, manga and sushi! Birthplace of my beloved PS2! Japan! Japan! Japan!

Key:

**Bold**        = emphasis

_Italics_     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*********Chapter Ten: Just a White Lie**

                She slid into the room quietly, however, she did not escape his notice. He spun quickly, his ready stance precise and well practiced, his blade gleaming in the almost sufficient light. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth drawn into a thin line as sweat shone on his brow.

                She walked into the middle of the room, allowing the smooth white silk wrapped around her weapon to fall to the ground with a flutter. Her head was held high and her face set with determination. His eyes never left her once, and his blade never shook or fell.

                "Now we fight for the title," he said stonily, turned his blade over, then narrowed his eyes as he jumped impossibly high in the air, lunging at her with his sword.

                She dodged it quickly, skirting to the side and bringing up her katana to deflect his as a loud twang of metal echoed through the room. 

He growled softly the sprung at her again, landing a few feet in front of her, ducking, and swinging his katana around and knocking her feet out from under her.

                She was not defeated that easily, though. She curled her body and rolled backwards, jumping back to her feet with her sword ready.

                "You're better," she said with a wise grin, "But you know what you're lacking." Flames surrounded her as she began her attack. Her routine seemed completely random, but to the trained eye of any martial artist it was actually a brilliantly calculated pattern. She executed wild jabs, clean swipes and rough blows in a precise array that in normal circumstances, would have mortally harmed or killed her opponent.

                However, she only managed to land a handful of blows.

                Without his fighting essence missing, her opponent was indeed a force to be reckoned with. He was efficient in both his offensive and defensive, and found every loophole in her attack and exploited in ruthlessly.

                The fires around them grew as the two of them began to pant with the effort of constantly blocking and attacking.

                _This isn't going to work,_ she thought, then immediately decided on a change of tactics.

                She sidestepped, ducked and swirled around behind him, using the force of her twirl to bring down the blunt edge of her blade on his back. He grunted as pain exploded where the steel had come into contact with him, but immediately regained his composure.

                _An opening, _he thought as he pivoted and brought his blade around to smash into her shoulder. She cried out incoherently as her arm twitched and she collapsed sideways.

                He pointed his blade at her then flipped it over.

                "End."

                She used her free hand to clutch her shoulder as she looked up at the victor of their duel. Flames surrounded him mightily and his eyes glowed with a kind of angry sadness as a samurai's would.

                Was it her imagination, or did she see a dragon weaving through the flames that surrounded him?

                "What I lack cannot be replaced."

                *

                She sat up in her bed swiftly, her long, raven-black locks clinging to her arms, neck and face. 

She brought up her right hand to wipe the sweat off her face, only to find her katana locked inside it in an iron grip. 

                She looked at her hand -- she was holding the metal part of her sword.

                She stared on in wonderment and shock as blood began to seep out of her palm and slide down her arm. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

                "So I will lose to him."

                *

                Usagi lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. 

She didn't know how long she had been staring at it, or why, all she knew was that she had been staring at it for a **long** time and that a whole lot of thoughts and junk where flying through her head.

                _"You probably have a really nice Heero Yui inside you."_

                _"He's a pretty lonely guy." _

_                "That was really nice of you before."_

_                "You should really give Heero a try, you know."_

_                "He must have a personality underneath."_

_                "You'll be asking 'Mamoru who'."  
  
_

                "UGH!" She grunted then rolled over, blocking the thought-inducing ceiling from her sight. The blackness of closed eyes, however, only created more thoughts. However, those were coupled with visuals of herself and Heero on dates, arguing, sitting on couches, eating dinner, and just about anything else that any normal human being would do.

                With a squeak she rolled back onto her back and narrowed her eyes at the evil ceiling.

                "Oh, I'm going to have a **very **forceful word with Minako," she said determinedly. Even though she knew that her thoughts had nothing to doing with her golden-haired friend, she had to blame **someone**.

                *

                Usagi lifted her head off her desk sleepily, trying in vain to concentrate on the words being scrawled across the white-board. She had an excuse for not concentrating though; she had, after all, not gotten a wink of sleep the night before.

                _Focus! _She mentally slapped herself.

                Concentration, however, was too far out of Usagi's reach, and before she knew it, the wink of sleep that had escaped her last night invaded her body with a whole other army of winks that caused her to instantly fall into a slumber.

                Not quick enough, nonetheless, for her presently sluggish brain to register a small slip of paper fly from somewhere in the classroom, smack her in the nose and land neatly on her desk.

                *

                For the second time in her Thursday History lesson, Usagi raised her head off her desk. She gazed around the room tiredly for a few moments, and then let her eyes drop to her desk. There were several slips of paper lying there. She smirked a little, realizing that she must have been asleep for quite a while, then pulled out the slip at the bottom, which she assumed to be the first. It was Ami's handwriting but it looked as though she had written it without actually looking at the paper.

                                _Usagi, you should be concentrating! Lucky for you I'll let you copy my notes back at the house!_

_                                From Ami =)_

                She smiled. Good old Ami, without even being asked she was wiling to help. Usagi shot a gracious smile Ami's way, but, of course, she was paying all her attention to the teacher at the front of the class. She grabbed the next bit of paper.

                                _Hey Usa!_

_                                Enjoying your nap? Lol._

_                                Heero's looked at you a couple of times. It must be love! Haha! Just joking!_

_                                Love from Minako!_

Usagi rolled her eyes and looked over at where Minako was sitting. 

And grinning. 

At her.

                She rolled her eyes again then picked up the next note closest to the bottom.

                                _Hi Usagi! It's Duo here! Man, History is sooo boring! But I guess you agree too, huh, sleepy head? Just Joking :)_

_                                Hey, you should date Heero sometime! But, he does have that weird problem/phobia of---_

Usagi frowned as the writing ended there. 

Heero? Phobia? 

Iceberg? Fear?

No way, there couldn't be **anything** Mr. Monotone was afraid of. 

She shrugged and picked up the next piece of paper.

                                _Hehehe! Usa, Duo just told me something really funny! Apparently Heero's got some sort of problem with going out on the town for like, parties and dates and stuff. Duo didn't say much but he promised that we'd find out why soon! _

_                                Luv Mina_

_                                P.S. You'll help him get over his fear of going out on dates, won't you Usagi? *wink wink* JK!_

                Usagi gave a sidelong look at Minako, but she was whispering to Duo and some other students, so she didn't notice. (Usagi didn't even want to **think** about what she was whispering about.)

                She picked up the second last note.

                                _Hello Usagi, my name's Araki Kojiro. I'm in most of your classes and you seem really nice. I was going to ask you out after class but Duo and everyone say you're going out with Heero. Is that true? He seems pretty cold to me. Oh well._

_                                ~Kojiro (On the left of the classroom, in sport uniform.)_

Usagi looked around for the sender of the note, and soon spotted him. 

He gave her a discreet little wave. 

Usagi blushed. 

He smiled.

And then suddenly his eyes widened, his back stiffened, and he quickly whipped his head forward and didn't look back.

_What was that about?_ Usagi thought; a little hurt by his actions. She shrugged it off as just a weird boy thing then read the last note on he desk.

                _                Duo again. Minako and I kinda accidentally just started a rumor about you and Heero. We were only joking but now everyone thinks you two are going out. Sorry!_

The writing then changed to that of Minako's hand.

                                _I'm soooo sorry Usa! We were just having a joke but now they've gone on all serious on us! Now barely any guys are gonna have the nerve to ask you out… I'M SOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY, USA!!! _

                Usagi read the note again.

                And again.

                And one last time.

                _So that's why… that Kojiro boy must've thought Heero would bash him up or something… ah, Minako, sometimes you just let your mouth get me into trouble…_

Usagi sulked a little. So she wasn't going to get asked out by **anyone** until the rumor had vanished? That could be ages! Everyone would believe what they wanted to believe, and even if she denied it outright, they would think she was just trying to cover up a hidden romance!

                _Great. So now what am I supposed to do?_

                Before Usagi had time to answer the question, the lunch bell rang.

                *

                "**PLEEEASE** FORGIVE ME USA! I meant it as a joke, I swear!!!" Minako pleaded as she walked next to Usagi in the corridor.

                "It's OK, Mina. I'm sure everyone will eventually get the picture that we're not going out. It's pretty obvious, anyway," Usagi said nonchalantly. Minako sighed in relief.

                "I'm glad you're taking this so well, Usagi," Minako said, a lot more relaxed than she was during her previous outburst. Her expression then turned sneaky. "You know, Usa… you could probably use this to your advantage."

                "WHAT?!" Usagi asked, choking a little as she stopped walking suddenly. Makoto, Ami and Rei noticed Usagi's odd behavior and joined the two blondes.

                "Usagi, are you OK? You look a little pale…" Ami inquired with her concerned doctor-like eyes on the prowl for any sickness in her.

                "Not really!" Usagi exclaimed hysterically. "Minako and Duo accidentally spread a rumor that Heero and I were dating! And she suggested I use that 'to my advantage,'" Usagi through her hands up in the air, as if pleading 'why me?'

                "Well…" Makoto began, "Maybe you can use it to your advantage. Going on some dates and getting a boyfriend **would** help you forget about Mamoru."

                "Yeah, and as annoying as you are, Usagi, you always bring out the best in people. Ice-boy can't have absolutely **no** emotions, can he?" Rei said with a glance down the hall at said boy.

                Usagi smiled at her friends. She knew that they were being only extra-extra-nice so as to avoid a Mamoru-induced tear-fest, but it felt good to be complimented anyway.

                "See? You didn't have go weird; I was only thinking about you!" Minako said with a cheerful grin.

                "Suuure you were; you're a matchmaker Minako, always have been, always will be," Usagi said and poked her friend shoulder.

                "I'm not a matchmaker… I'm the Goddess of Love!!" Minako exclaimed, striking an odd pose.

Her friends slinked away quietly.

                *

                "Heero, you seem a bit edgy. Do you want to tell me about it?" Quatre asked, slightly concerned for his silent friend. He got a glare for an answer. "Yes or no?"

                "No," Heero said rather bluntly.

                "So, there is something that's making you edgy, but you don't want to talk about it because ot's a secret. Is that it?" Quatre asked, opening his locker and stacking his Geography books inside.

                "No."

                "OK then. Now we're getting somewhere. Something happed during your History period, right?" Quatre stated rather than asked as he cleaned up the small stacks of loose sheets that had fallen out of a couple of folders and had begun to collect at the bottom of his locker.

                "No."

                "Did Duo say something? We all know how frustrated you get when he's talking his mouth off. Is that what happened?"

                "No."

                "A combined effort then. Between Duo and… Minako, right? I'm guessing more were involved, though. It was a group of students, wasn't it?" the blonde asked as he picked up the small bag containing his lunch.

                "No."

                "Well what did they say? Did they start a rumor?" Quatre opened his bag of goodies and peered inside.

                "No."

                "So they started a rumor about you and somebody. About you and a girl?"

                "No."

                "Which girl? Was it Usagi?" Quatre asked excitedly, forgetting about his lunch for the moment.

                "No."

                "Oh my Gosh! They said you and Usagi were dating?!" Quatre started to laugh. "Maybe you really **should** go out with her. Give them something more to talk about! Oh well, I'm meeting Ami and the rest of the gang for Lunch today. Bye!" He called as he whizzed down the hall towards the quad.

                Heero glared at his back with as close to confusion as he had ever experienced in his life.

                *

                Two very normal --and not suspicious at all-- students sneakily, but not noticeably, creeped towards the far corner of the quad. Said corner was a particularly shady corner and a very good place for plot-makers to meet and hatch their schemes.

                "Part 1- White Lie : Complete!" The not-suspicious and totally not-diabolical person with the braid said.

                "Now for stage two!" The not-at-all-suspicious long-haired blonde said excitedly.

                "Part 2a: Initiate Melting Point! Remember what to do!"

                After a quick nod they both departed casually, thinking how clever they both were.

                *

                "I've got a great idea! Let's all go out on Friday and party! I know heaps of great clubs, and we can tell the school that it's just to introduce the new boarders to the city around here," Duo said with a grin.

                "Yeah! That sounds awesome!" Minako agreed, already planning outfit options.

                "Are you sure the school will allow it?" Ami asked timidly, a little frightened by the prospect of going to 'clubs' and 'partying.'

                "Sure! Us guys at the boarding house do it all the time! I don't know if the other guys enjoy it, but they come along anyway. I mean, Heero's a bit hard to…er… **convince **to come along but **eventually** we all get there," Duo said laughingly and looked slyly at Heero. He got a glare and a 'hn' for a response. That didn't faze Duo Maxwell, though. Never really did and never ever will.

                "It sounds fun. But what kind of clubs would we go to?" Usagi asked excitedly as she, too, began to mentally view clothing options.

                "Duo usually takes us anywhere and everywhere. It's a bit of a mystery as to why he knows the area so well, but it's fun anyway, so we don't ask," Quatre said, then took a bite out of his sandwich.

                "So who pays for everything?" Rei asked with a raised eyebrow.

                "Oh, Rei. The man always shouts," Makoto said with a matter-of-fact smile that faded into a grin.

                "Uh… Alright. Guys shout --But only this one time!-- Who's coming along? All of you? OK. I'll go inform the principle on our 'Introduction Excursion.' Bye!" Duo said and sped off before anyone had time to say anything.

                They all then resumed talking, but if anyone had taken notice, they would have realized that Heero's face was a little paler than usual. 

                *

                "Yes! Art last period! It doesn't get any better!" Usagi exclaimed as she gathered her things from her locker and walked bouncily to her class. She loved Art. She wasn't terribly good at it, but she loved it because it didn't require a lot of hard thinking and helped her relax a bit.

                She walked into the classroom with a smile, picked up her canvas from the drying rack and took a seat in front of an easel near the middle of the classroom. She was one of the first students to arrive --which she found rather odd-- so she sat around waiting for the teacher to arrive and open up the paint cupboard.

                "Hi." She heard from next to her. She looked up to see the face of Kojiro, the boy who had sent her the note in her History class. "Is this seat here taken?" He asked with a small smile, indicating the seat next to her.

                "Not at all. Go ahead," she said with a smile.

                "Oh, no, wait… you'd probably be sitting next to Heero, wouldn't you? Sorry," he then shuffled off quickly and hid behind an easel and canvas near the back of the room and in the corner. Usagi looked at him, a little confused.

                As if on cue, that was when Heero decided to enter the room. He scanned the area, soon realized the only available seat left was next to Usagi, grabbed his canvas and sat down. The teacher entered soon after.

                Usagi had always thought it was weird that Heero did Art. It wasn't a core subject, so he must have chosen it himself, but… why? He didn't seem at all to be an arty person. In fact, he seemed to be the polar opposite to an arty person. What was even weirder was the fact that he was really good at it, too.

                "Wow, that's absolutely wonderful," Usagi breathed as she looked at his painting. 

                "Hn."

                If any other person had responded to a compliment like that, Usagi would have been thoroughly insulted. It was the standard response from Heero though, so she only felt mildly insulted as she continued to stare at his painted canvas.

                His painting was, indeed, amazing. It was bordering on perfect. Heck, it'd passed the border and was beginning to look like a photograph. 

Their flaming-red-haired teacher then started to address her noisy students.

                "Class, your paintings need to be finished in time for the test in four weeks, so you have to work efficiently. I've gotten some questions about this; if you **don't **finish before then, then you will just have to use your unfinished painting. Only minimal marks will be deducted for an unfinished painting," she said sweetly as she began to waltz around the room and look at her students' artworks.

                _I'll never be finished in that time!!_ Usagi moaned to herself, picking up a plastic palette and walking over to the paint cupboard. A queue was already forming.

                She decided to just zone out for a while and listen to everyone else's conversations while she waited for her turn.

                "--they just don't click. I don't get it. He always seems so reclusive and cold, and she seems really nice and smiley, you know?"

                "Yeah. I can't believe they're going out. How long have they been at this school? Less than a week? And they're already dating?"

                "Maybe they knew each other before then."

                "Yeah, maybe. Damn, that's a shame. I was going to ask her out next week."

                "Sure you were."

                "I was!"

                Usagi sighed; it seemed that that rumor about herself and Heero had found wings and done multiple laps around the school.  She rolled her eyes and tuned in to another conversation.

                "Hey, did you guys hear about what that Wufei kid did today?" One girl asked.

                "I've heard **of** it, but no-one has any details or anything," another answered.

                "Yeah well, at the end of lunch some kids came in from the front gate and talked to him. They were pretty creepy, dressed in black. They had a sort of a gangster/street rat kinda feel about them. One of them suddenly pushed him and then **BANG**! He just went nuts! They all started attacking him as soon as he had knocked someone out," a new participant in the conversation said animatedly.

                "Yeah, I saw that too! There were about a dozen of those guys on him and he almost beat them all."

                "Whaddya mean 'almost?'"

                "Well I guess someone landed a lucky punch. Caught him off-guard then they almost beat the life outta him."

                "Where is he now?"

                "Probably at the Nurse. I've heard he hates hospitals," one of them said as the Art teacher walked up to them.

                "Girls! Stop chatting and move along, you have to be very swift if you want to get your paintings done in time!"

                Usagi shuffled through and squirted random dark colors on her palette. She walked back to her seat and sat down, beginning to blend some of her colors with the paintbrush she had grabbed on her way back to her canvas.

                The topic of their paintings in the first half of the semester was 'Obscurity.' They had to paint a dark painting but had to 'breathe life into it using a brush' as their teacher said.

                Usagi had a brilliant mental picture of a calm, serene lake at midnight, rippling slightly and warping the moon's reflection. Above the large pool were beautiful oak trees, completely black with the lack of light and casting shadows on the rippling surface on the lake underneath. And above it all was a beautiful night sky, black but ever so slightly purple and blue, and with twinkling stars spread over the sky, framing a perfect full moon.

                It was truly a beautiful picture.

                _So why can't a I just paint it properly so it **looks** like it?! _Usagi thought angrily, staring at her slightly sad-looking picture of mutated splashes of black, purple and white.

                She then looked over at Heero's painting and got even more depressed.

                His painting was of a large, gothic but still very beautiful church, casting frightening shadows everywhere due to the angle of the moon. Outside the church was a poor street urchin lying near the massive entrance, the light of the moon making the tears running down his cheeks glisten.

                The Art teacher bustled up behind Heero, practically gushing with excitement as she stared at his mini-masterpiece.

                "Heero dear, this is simply amazing! You have such talent! The detail is beautiful! And Usagi! Yours is…"

                Usagi scrunched up her face in distaste as she regarded her painting.

                "It's not very good. I'm sorry, Miss," Usagi said as she swirled paint around on her palette.

                "No, dear, don't say that. It abstract, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a… shipwreck in the ocean, right? It's very beautiful. Good work Usagi!" And with that, she scuttled off to another student.

                Usagi sighed and began to add to her painting, trying to make it look like a perfect lake and not a rotting shipwreck.

                *

                Rei walked quickly into the infirmary and walked up to the bed where Wufei was lying. Without any further ado, she launched into what she was about to say.

                "I assume this cancels the re-match," she stated, staring down at his ruined form.

                "…"

                "I had a dream last night. It told me you would have defeated me anyway, so you needn't worry," she said bluntly and a little too quickly.

                His head snapped around to look at her. 

She grit her teeth as she felt her pride shatter; to admit to being less to a man in such bad shape was tearing at her dignity.

                "It is because of this that I request that after your recovery you…t…train… me." 

As soon as the words were out of her mouth they didn't seem as bad as they had been when they were in her head.

                His eyes narrowed slightly, and he looking at her for a long while. Eventually he nodded.

                Rei walked out of the room quietly.

                *

                "Duo, did you get everything organized?" Minako whispered.

                "Yep! We're all set, all we have to do is wait until tomorrow night!"

                "Is it going to work though?"

                "Sure it is! Those two will be a couple before the end of next week or my name isn't Duo Maxwell!"

*******End chapter 10

Not much humor in this chapter. I'm sorry. I just thought I should get something out before everyone completely forgets about my story. =(

Big, huge, massive, enormous apologies go out to the one or two fans I have out there! I love you guys! I'm so sorry this is late! (Especially to **Angelight**, who ordered me to go and write this! ^_^)

*pretends to cry* 

…soooo…. I'm forgiven then? Cool. Now you can all be the wonderful, lovely, beautiful people that you are and **REVIEW!!** ….please?


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